[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 865 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                         April 9, 2008.
Whereas, in his 2006 New Year's address, then Prime Minister of Jamaica, P.J. 
        Patterson, said, ``Without a doubt, the high level of violent crime 
        remains our most troubling and pressing problem.'';
Whereas, in opening the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago in September 2005, 
        President George Maxwell Richards said his country was in crisis due to 
        the escalating crime rate;
Whereas, in March 2007, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and 
        the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) 
        issued a report entitled, ``Crime, Violence, and Development: Trends, 
        Costs, and Policy Options in the Caribbean'';
Whereas the UNODC and World Bank report presents detailed analyses of crime and 
        violence in the Caribbean region and offers possible policy responses;
Whereas the UNODC and World Bank report draws on input from governments, civil 
        society organizations, and Caribbean experts;
Whereas the UNODC and World Bank report that the Caribbean region has the 
        highest murder and assault rates in the world, with murder rates at 4 
        times the level of the United States;
Whereas the UNODC and World Bank report that high crime levels have long term 
        developmental effects on the Caribbean--

    (1) crime cost the Jamaican economy $12,400,000,000 in Jamaican 
dollars, 3.7 percent of its gross domestic product, in 2001; and

    (2) reducing the region-wide homicide rate by \1/3\ could over double 
the rate of economic growth per capita; and

Whereas the UNODC and World Bank report reached the following conclusions--

    (1) Caribbean countries are transit points and not producers of 
cocaine. Interdiction needs to be complemented by other strategies outside 
the region: principally demand reduction in consumer countries and 
eradication and/or alternative development in producer countries;

    (2) illegal gun trafficking is a dangerous outgrowth of the drug trade. 
Better enforcement methods help, as can improved gun interdiction in ports;

    (3) deaths and injuries from youth violence constitute a major threat 
to public health and social and economic progress across the Caribbean. 
Youth are disproportionately represented in the ranks of both victims and 
perpetrators of crime and violence;

    (4) although the average deportee from the United States to the 
Caribbean is not involved in criminal activity, a minority of deportees may 
be causing serious problems, both by direct involvement in crime and by 
providing a perverse role model for youth. The report recommends that more 
services be offered to reintegrate deportees, with deporting countries 
contributing to the cost of these programs;

    (5) some types of crime, such as organized crime and drug and illegal 
firearms trafficking, are impervious to alternative prevention initiatives 
and require an efficient criminal justice system, and therefore urgent 
priorities for improving the criminal justice system in the region include 
the development of management information systems, tracking of justice 
system performance, monitoring of reform programs, and increased 
accountability to citizens;

    (6) several Caribbean countries are increasingly investing in crime 
prevention--using approaches such as integrated citizen security programs, 
crime prevention through environmental design, and a public health approach 
that focuses on risk factors for violent behaviors;

    (7) youth violence is a particularly serious problem in the region, and 
youth homicide rates in several countries of the region are significantly 
above the world average. To address issues of youth violence, Caribbean 
policymakers should invest in programs that have been shown to be 
successful in careful evaluations such as: (i) early childhood development 
and mentoring programs; (ii) interventions to keep high risk youth in 
secondary schools; and (iii) opening schools after hours and on weekends to 
offer additional activities and training; and

    (8) many of the issues facing the Caribbean transcend national 
boundaries and require a coordinated regional and international response. 
Demand for drugs emanates from Europe and the United States; deportees are 
sent back to the region from the United States, the United Kingdom, and 
Canada; and many weapons that are trafficked are brought from the United 
States: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) welcomes the recommendations for more effective law enforcement 
        and crime prevention efforts contained in the March 2007 UNODC and World 
        Bank report, ``Crime, Violence, and Development: Trends, Costs, and 
        Policy Options in the Caribbean'', to the extent those recommendations 
        do not conflict with existing U.S. law;
            (2) urges the United States Government to consider fully and 
        carefully the recommendations in the UNODC and World Bank Report and to 
        take the recommendations into account when developing United States 
        policy toward the current member states of the Caribbean Community 
        (CARICOM) and the Dominican Republic;
            (3) urges the governments of United States and other drug-consuming 
        countries to increase counter-narcotics assistance to the current member 
        states of CARICOM and the Dominican Republic;
            (4) urges the United States Government to increase coordination on 
        policy development and implementation with the current member states of 
        CARICOM and the Dominican Republic to help combat crime and violence in 
        the region;
            (5) urges the Department of State and the Department of Homeland 
        Security to work with the current member states of CARICOM and the 
        Dominican Republic to mitigate the negative effects of United States 
        deportation policy;
            (6) urges the current member states of CARICOM and the Dominican 
        Republic to consider fully and carefully the recommendations in the 
        UNODC and World Bank Report, and to take the recommendations into 
        account, especially regarding improvements in their criminal justice 
        systems; and
            (7) urges the United States Government to consider the impact on the 
        current member states of CARICOM and the Dominican Republic of the 
        proposed Merida Initiative to combat drugs, violence, and transnational 
        crime in Mexico and Central America, especially whether a successful 
        plan will drive narco-traffickers from Mexico and Central America to the 
        current member states of CARICOM or the Dominican Republic.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.