WASHINGTON, CMC – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says a recent new study showing that treating violence as an epidemic and intervening to prevent its transmission can be an effective tool to reduce violent crime in Trinidad and Tobago.
The study was done in collaboration with the Arizona State University.
Evaluating Cure Violence
The study, titled “Evaluating Cure Violence,” was presented at the IDB’s headquarters on Thursday. It evaluated the results of the Cure Violence program in Trinidad and Tobago, a project financed by the Washington-based financial institution.
The IDB said that violence in Latin America and the Caribbean has been an ongoing humanitarian crisis for decades, fueling an immigration and refugee crisis across the region.
Three-year evaluation
It said the Evaluating Cure Violence study is the result of an extensive, three-year evaluation of Project REASON, a local violence prevention program that used the Cure Violence methodology to address homicides, woundings and shootings.
According to the study, the Cure Violence program uses a public health model to prevent the “transmission” of violent crime. The model works by interrupting transmission of the disease; reducing the risk of those at highest risk to commit violent crime; and changing community norms.
The findings presented in this report are based on the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data collected before, during, and after the program’s 26-month implementation period.
Significant decline in crime rate
The study noted that within one year of the launch of Project REASON, the violent crime rate in the treatment area of Trinidad and Tobago was 45.1 per cent lower than in the comparison area that was not part of the program.
According to the study, the key findings of Evaluating Cure Violence in Trinidad and Tobago include calls to the police for murders, shootings, and woundings decreased in the treatment area by 22.6 per cent while increasing by 10.4 per cent in the comparison area over the same period.
The study also found that the Port of Spain General Hospital, the closest hospital to the intervention area, experienced a mean reduction of roughly 38.7 per cent in the number of gunshot wound admissions.
“The findings presented in Evaluating Cure Violence in Trinidad and Tobago provide strong evidence that expanding the Cure Violence methodology will be an effective way to reduce homicides, woundings and shootings as well as to contribute towards improving lives in Trinidad and Tobago,” the IDB added.
