Date: 29/11/2022
Duration: 15:00-16:00 (GMT)
The Viability of Mandatory Rehabilitation in Jamaican Prisons
In this webinar, Commonwealth Alumnus Dr Dacia L Leslie will discuss the viability of mandatory rehabilitation for prison inmates in Jamaica.
The legitimacy of mandatory rehabilitation is an important debate roused by reports of the high number of inmates leaving prison without having participated in rehabilitation programmes. However, rehabilitation plays a key role in state efforts to promote effective reintegration, reduce recidivism, and achieve SDG 16 – peaceful, just and strong institutions.
Drawing on her CSC funded doctoral research on criminal recidivism in Jamaica, Dr Leslie will explore how state capacity can be developed to improve the intended outcomes of the rehabilitative process. She will also discuss the importance of evidence-based decision-making and how her role as a member of the Correctional Services Technical Committee is helping to inform the policy process and bridge the gap between academia, the state, and civil society.
This webinar will address the CSC development theme, Strengthening global peace, security and governance.
The webinar will last for approximately one hour, including a Q&A session.
Open to all Commonwealth Scholars and Alumni, the monthly webinars will address one of the CSC’s six development themes and provide an opportunity for attendees to engage in real-time Q&A discussion on the topic presented.
You can watch previous webinars on the CSC’s YouTube channel.
Dr Dacia L Leslie is Research Fellow and Chair of the Crime Prevention and Offender Management Research Cluster hosted by the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. She is a Canada-CARICOM Scholar and Research Associate of the Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island.
Dr Leslie has over 10 years’ experience undertaking research and evaluation. She is the author of Recidivism in the Caribbean: Improving the Reintegration of Jamaican Ex-prisoners (2019) and co-editor of Critical Caribbean Perspectives on Preventing Gender-Based Violence (2022). Her non-commissioned research concentrates on the lived experiences of inmates, ex-prisoners, and removed migrants and their child dependents. Her teaching focuses on Development Studies, specialising in Monitoring and Evaluation.
Dr Leslie is a 2011 Commonwealth Scholar from Jamaica. She completed her PhD in Criminology at Cardiff University.
