Security & Strategic Review -June 2007 (ISSN 1741-4202)

Statistically, the Caribbean has the world's highest regional homicide rate at 30 murders per 100,000 inhabitants per year. According to a recent study conducted jointly by the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the high rate has become a grave obstacle to economic and social development. The report argues that reducing the homicide rate in the Caribbean by a third could more than double the region's rate of per capita economic growth. Much of the violent crime is attributed to the drugs trade, which some indicators suggest may be waning.