From Paco Nunez

The McCabe Project to explore the social and psychological roots of criminality in the Bahamas

Nassau, Bahamas, September 23, 2013:  In the middle of a massive government crackdown on crime The Tribune newspaper, the Bahamas’ leading daily, has launched an in-depth exploration of the social and psychological roots of criminality in the Bahamas.

The effort, called “The McCabe Project”, is spearheaded by the paper’s two senior journalists Rupert Missick Jr. and Paco Nuñez.

“The McCabe Project” will also attempt to uncover the institutional deficiencies which create a fertile ground for crime to flourish in the Bahamas.

“Through their actions and statements, our political leaders have indicated that in their view, crime is something that originates at the fringes of society, perpetrated by a deviant minority and most properly addressed by a show of force.

“But those who have worked for years behind the scenes to better the lives of the most downtrodden and marginalized in this society say this approach treats symptoms rather than causes, and will ultimately only make matters worse,” Nunez said.

According to a report entitled: “Rehabilitation of Inmates: A National Imperative” by the Bahamas’ former Superintendent of Prisons Dr Elliston Rahming, for every 270 citizens in the Bahamas, one is incarcerated.

In terms of the size of its prison population, the Bahamas ranks ninth in the world and number one in the Caribbean on a per capita basis. The country has some 435 persons behind bars per 100,000 population.

“With ‘The McCabe Project’ we hope to uncover the hurt that leads to crime, the conditions that spawn it, the damage left in its wake and the various efforts to stop it.

“The aim is to get beneath the bruise that is the rising crime rate and focus on the hemorrhaging beneath the surface of the headlines, the political talking points, and apathy of the general public,” Missick said.

The project takes its name from the poem “McCabe’s Curse” written by a British Sea Captain of the same name who, in the early 1800s, was himself was a victim of crime in the Bahamas.

Much of the old sea captain’s curse has become a reality for a country that has more than three times as many homicides per capita as the United States.