Attorney General hires crime expert

Yolande Forde, Cayman’s new Consultant Criminologist

Tuesday,  October 4, 2005

With five-years as chief of the National Task Force on Crime Prevention in Barbados, Yolande C Ford, is now on assignment in the Cayman Islands to study the causes of crime.

According to Attorney General, Hon Sam Bulgin, Ms Forde’s assignment is to conduct “empirical and seminal research” on crime here and present findings and policy recommendations.

Ms Forde, a consultant criminologist, has been given the mandate to study crime in Cayman only 14 days after a serious robbery in Patrick’s Island where women and children were held hostage and which police believe was in fact a bungled attempt on the home of the Attorney General.

Ms Forde comes to her task armed with a Masters of Science in Criminal Justice Policy from London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, which she received in 1991.

Her first degree was in Sociology and Law from the University of the West Indies, and she has completed further post-graduate training in the Doctoral Programme at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York.

Ms Forde, a former Lieutenant in the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) and an 8-year member of the Reserve Corps of the BDF, has already placed some hard facts on the table for Cayman to face.

During the last week of September, while here on an orientation visit, she said that crime calls into question the very assumptions we make about personal and national progress.

She said that crime had to be tackled “seriously and comprehensively” because crime is a multi-dimensional and multi-tiered phenomenon. 

“Crime is the function of human behaviour,” she said.

“It is the behaviour of people. We would like to see it as an abstract phenomenon but it is really something that is all about people choosing between anti-social and pro-social behaviour.

“When we say that crime is sourced in outside or external influences on people I ask where is the person’s ability to make sensible choices. Where is the person’s own internal policeman? What is wrong with the individual’s own sense of reasoning?”

In discussing the behaviour of people in relation to crime, Ms Forde pointed to the family unit. 

“The home environment is a critical determinant with crime,” she added. “An education-focussed home environment is even more critical than the teacher in the classroom. Parents must have a vision for children. If this is not the case then children will not have a vision for themselves.”

Mr Bulgin’s move to assign Ms Forde in this way underscores the Cabinet’s intent to understand why crime is the way it is in Cayman now. Ms Forde explained that understanding the aetiology of crime was critical because the process started with understanding the life that children lead from birth, through to adulthood. 

“People don’t just reach to twenty-five years old and turn to crime. The V-shaped model of criminal aetiology explains that a child’s life is in the bottom of the V.

“One arm of the V represents the anti-social path, and the other, the pro-social path. The further you travel up from the base of the V, is the further apart both paths become and the harder it is to cross from one path to the other. It is important that signs of movement along the anti-social path be recognised early, or else, it becomes more difficult and more expensive to create the longer bridges that enable crossing over back to the pro-social path.”

It is clear that the Government sees Ms Forde’s assignment and the recently introduced anti-crime measures as ways to reduce the increase in crime rates.

Hon Kurt Tibbetts, Leader of Government Business and Minister of District Administration, Planning, Agriculture & Housing, speaking on crime at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon on 28 September said:

“This Government has acted with deliberation and determination to deal with what is a critical situation. Let’s be clear about one thing, we live here too, and we will not take a passive approach to dealing with crime.”
Ms Forde said her assignment was one that was focussed on change and that she likes solutions-oriented approach to work.

“This is not in any way an academic exercise,” she said.

“I am not here to conduct a research project that will only come up with determining factors. I am focussed on options and measures that can be adopted and implemented.”

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