Jamaica: 40 percent drop in homicides

A 2010 United Nations report cited Jamaica as having had the highest homicide rate in the English-speaking Caribbean, however the country has reported a 40 percent drop in homicides in the past 15 months.

Outgoing Prime Minister, Bruce Golding has indicated that crime is still at an unacceptable level.

He revealed that 276 less homicides have been committed for the year, from the 1,097 that
occurred in 2010 which was also less than what was reported in 2009.

In Jamaica, some of the increases in homicide levels occurred during the economic crisis. St Kitts and Nevis was next in line, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago.

The lowest murder rates in the region in 2010 were in Antigua and Barbuda and Haiti.