Nearly 300 young Barbadians, many of them teenagers, were under the care of the Probation Service last year, and more than half of those cases involved violent or threatening offences.
This was revealed by Minister of Home Affairs and Information Gregory Nicholls as he addressed the 80th anniversary thanksgiving service of the Barbados Probation Service, at the Sanctuary Empowerment Centre, Country Road, St Michael, yesterday.
Nicholls said he was using the occasion not for comfortable celebration, but for a candid conversation about what the service means to Barbados in 2026 and what the country is asking it to do.
“Let us not pretend that this anniversary is happening in easy times,” he told the congregation. “Crime is real in our communities.”
Citing 2025 probation statistics, the minister noted that of the 295 people under the department’s supervision, 138 were placed on probation for violent or threatening offences. They ranged from acts causing bodily harm to sexual offences and property crimes involving violence.
He stressed that these were not convicted people but Barbadian children, and the question before the nation was not simply how to punish them, but what comes next.
Nicholls paid tribute to probation officers whose work he said takes place largely out of public view – in offices, courtrooms, family homes and communities – managing heavy caseloads and navigating complex human situations with little public recognition.
The statistics he cited illustrated an institution under pressure: 492 pre-sentencing reports, 519 progress reports, 203 community service reports and 117 domestic reports produced in 2025 alone.
“That is not sustainable,” he said, while noting it spoke to the character of those doing the work.
The minister highlighted several of the department’s programmes as evidence of a more mature understanding of what rehabilitation requires. However, he warned that programme growth could not outpace institutional capacity.
“If you are serious about rehabilitation as a national strategy, then we have to be serious about resourcing the institution that delivers it,” Nicholls stated.
Chief Probation Officer Dr Angela Dixon echoed that sentiment, telling staff their decades of service had shifted rehabilitation to the centre of national life.
“The work of diverting, rehabilitating and reintegrating people is no longer on the periphery. It is in the heart of how Barbados rebuilds lives and strengthens communities,” she said. (DDS)
