At the end of November 2024, Barbados recorded at least 48 homicides between January 1 and November 30. This represents an increase of five deaths, or 11.6%, over the January-to-October 2024 period. For the same period last year (i.e., January to November 2023), there were at least 19 homicides. This represents an increase of 29 deaths, or 152%.
Regular readers will note that there were 19 homicides (by my count) for the entirety of 2023. So, why the discrepancy (i.e., 19 vs 21)? Several days ago there was a media report concerning the discovery of skeletal remains of two male bodies in St. John. A subsequent report indicated that these two males may be Junior Taitt and Randy Brathwaite who have been missing since June 2023. These two deaths would take my 2023 count from 19 to 21.
My count and analysis are based solely on media reports; the figures and insights provided below should not be considered official or final.
A new column, “Approach Method,” was recently added to the table. This captures, when available through news reports, how the attacker approached the victim. For example, was it a drive-by, or did the assailant(s) drive to the scene, exit the vehicle, and then attack? In both cases, I would categorize it as ‘Motorcar.’ Alternatively, was the attack carried out on foot, such as a fight that broke out in a bar or an attacker approaching the victim on the street? This variable is subjective, as it relies on the specific details available from reports.
Of the 48 homicides for the year so far, 18.75% (i.e., 9 of them) occurred during the month of June.
Parish information was available for 47 of the 48 homicides, with the exception of Sonia Parris, as the specific parish where she was attacked is unknown at the time of this post. Almost half (48.9%) of all homicides have taken place in the parish of St. Michael.
Per capita by parish values have been added because looking at the absolute value of homicides by parish, without taking into consideration the population by parish, is not entirely accurate. For example, although St. Michael generally has the highest number of homicides in absolute terms, when we factor in its population size, along with the number of homicides and population sizes in other parishes, St. Michael is not always the highest. Parish information for Sonia Parris was unavailable hence the total number of homicides is 47 instead of 48.
Chart 3 – Barbados Homicides Per Capita by Parish, January to November 2024
From a per capita point of view, St. Philip had the highest number of homicides for the year so far (i.e., 29.4).
The two unknowns refer to Sonia Parris (April) and Daphne Thomas (September). The two homicides categorized as ‘Other’ relate to physical altercations. Excluding ‘Unknown’, which leaves 46 homicides, 67% of homicides in Barbados between January and November were shooting related.
The average age of homicide victims, to date, is 34.3 years old. Excluding Unknown victims, the youngest were 17 years old (Dashawn Hinkson and Jakori Wilkinson), while the eldest was 65 years old (a male whose name at the time of this post remains unknown). 31% of homicide victims were from the 17 and Under and 18 to 24 year old age groups.
93.75% of homicide victims in Barbados between January and November 2024 were Male.
Excluding Unknown, 54% of homicides occurred during the work week, which I define as Monday to Thursday.
Excluding Unknown, 20% of homicides took place on Saturday.
The time reported in The Media of the incident is what I use to assign homicides to one of six time slots. However, it is important to note that in some cases, this may not be when the victim was attacked or when they died. 35% of homicides occurred between 8 PM and 12 AM.
caribbeansignal.com is the personal blog of Amit Uttamchandani. Posts or comments made by Amit on this blog represent His personal views, opinions, thoughts, et cetera. Furthermore, the information presented in this particular do not represent official crime statistics. Finally, the raw data, i.e., the Excel file(s) used to create this post, as well as raw data dumps from the Barbados Homicide Database are available for purchase.