The University of Guyana (UG) in another three years will have a criminologist for the first time in a decade, when lecturer and sociologist Andrew Hicks returns to the institution on completion of his PhD in criminology and criminal justice.
Hicks, who has been a lecturer at the university for a number of years, was recently awarded a full scholarship by the Caribbean Pacific Island Mobility Scheme consortium to read for the three-year programme at the University of West Indies (UWI) in Trinidad. The consortium was established at UWI’s Trinidad office with funding from the European Union to administer the scholarship programme, that is specifically designed to enhance human resource development and to treat with development needs in the countries that fall under its auspices.
During an interview with the Sunday Stabroek Hicks said that his study period will involve three years’ residency in Trinidad, but he would be returning to Guyana from time to time to conduct research for his dissertation.
The scholarship stipulates that Hicks returns to serve Guyana, and he said he has a special interest in returning to UG since he has a strong passion for academia. He said the university has been without a criminologist for more than a decade, and he sees it as a golden opportunity for him to contribute to the enhancement of the courses in criminology.
At present the university has two courses which speak to the science of criminology: criminology and the criminal justice system, which are taught to sociology and social work students in addition to the sociology of punishment and correction course.
Meanwhile, he explained that a criminologist is someone who studies the causes, patterns and consequences of criminal behaviour, focusing on those forms of social behaviour that are repugnant to law. It also bears a relationship to the sociology of deviants, and he said since there are concerns about the perceived endemic nature of corruption in the Guyanese society it would be useful for the university to have some expertise to help the state understand the new emerging trend of white collar crimes.
He pointed out that as an institution, the mission of the university is to teach as well as to conduct research, but because of monetary constraints UG has not conducted much research in recent times. “I think if the university can get more PhDs …then it augurs well for the university [receiving funds to conduct research],” Hicks said.
According to the university lecturer his focus will be on the examination of family relations and absent fathers as a cluster of independent variables, and how these interact to produce a gang culture and violence and crime among young people in Guyana. “In a way I am attempting to explore the linkage between the phenomenon of absent fathers and family relations and how [these] impact on crime,” Hicks told the Sunday Stabroek.
He said when one looks at Guyana it would be found that a lot of young people have fallen prey to crime, and as a result he has a strong interest in researching how the phenomenon of absent fathers may have contributed to the new emerging trends.
Hicks mentioned that the now infamous Jermaine ‘Skinny’ Charles, a teenager who was recruited into the ‘Fineman’ gang and later killed, was one of the many young men who became involved in a life of crime at a very early age.
In addition, Hicks noted that the study of criminal justice is also about evaluating the effectiveness of the justice system within the society. “Here you look at the kinds of government or state institutions that are involved in the prevention, detection and prosecution of crime. In addition to that, criminal justice is also about what kind of reformatory activities are available within the correctional system and to evaluate the adequacy or inadequacies of those systems,” Hicks said.
Further, the lecturer explained that criminal justice is not only concerned with the courts but also the bar, and what kind of culture characterises practitioners of the bar who offer support to the correctional system.
He sees his research for his PhD thesis as a very significant project as it is coming at a time when there is a Justice Improvement Project, which is funded with support from the IBD, and which has seen among other things the Safe Neighbourhood Programme and the Citizens Security Project.
“This is really an opportunity for me to acquire some expertise as a sociologist using my experience along with my new training to evaluate some of these change processes that are going on in Guyana, and to support in some way through an informed platform a continuous evaluation of this development initiative,” Hicks said.
Hicks said the process of applying for the scholarship was very competitive, and in the application he had to submit a research proposal akin to his area of specialization, and also had to establish a plan which focused on how the scholarship could contribute to the development of the country and the region at large. He also needed the support of the university. Six scholarships were granted and Hicks said he learnt that over 100 persons had applied for them.
Hicks graduated from UG in 1998 with a degree in sociology, and he was subsequently awarded a scholarship in 2005 by the United Nations and was admitted to the United Nations mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica where he read for a Masters degree specializing in gender sociology and peace-building. He returned to UG and completed a post-graduate diploma in education even as he was lecturing at the institution. He also received a graduate diploma from the Institute for Social Development in Washington, DC in social policy design and management.
He has been a full-time lecturer at the university since 2002 in the department of sociology and he has served as the Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and also acted as the Dean for a short period. He has been heading the university’s Department of Sociology for the last three years. Prior to his work at UG Hicks served as a researcher and family health counsellor at the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA) and had responsibility for the adolescent sexual and reproductive health project of the institution working with a lot of young people.
