Sun-loving criminals

The tragic death of a young Welsh couple in Antigua, apparently at the hands of a would-be robber, is leading some people to reassess their desire to visit the Caribbean. A couple has come forward to the Times with a story of a vicious rape and beating in the neighbouring island of St Lucia, and there are reports of people cancelling planned vacations in the region.

Crime in the Caribbean has always been mainly associated with Jamaica, but the rate of violent crime in other islands, including Antigua, has been rising in recent years. The locals seem to be just as scared of this as the tourists are, and place some of the blame on the policy in richer countries (mainly the US, but also the UK and Canada) of deporting convicted criminals to the land of their birth once they have served their jail time.

It's interesting to consider the morality of this. Lots of young West Indians move to North America or the UK as children. Some of them find it hard to integrate, fall into a life of crime and get sent to prison. When they are ready for release, the authorities check their passports and bundle them on a plane to wherever they were born. So: they've grown up in a place they never quite fitted into, they've been hardened up by jail time, and now they've been sent back to somewhere they barely know. You wouldn't think the chances of rehabilitation were very high, would you? These people fell into crime while they were in the US (or Canada or the UK) -- they wouldn't have been admitted as immigrants if they already had records. So while they may be West Indian citizens, they're American (or Canadian or British) criminals. Sending them back is expedient and popular with the voters, but it's manifestly unfair to the hapless recipient country.

This is not just an issue between the rich countries of the Anglosphere and the West Indies. Earlier this year, Australia "repatriated" to the UK a convicted criminal who had emigrated as a child. How do you rate his chances of becoming a functioning member of British society?

The couple who were attacked in St Lucia are urging people considering visits to the Caribbean to stay at home. That seems like an over-reaction -- but then again, you don't want to go for a restful break on the other side of the world, only to be confronted by the same guy that broke into your house in London five years ago.