Criminal Justice System Capacity Building: Lessons from a Longitudinal Training Project in Guyana

Abstract

By drawing on two data sets— a performance monitoring plan and an outcome-based evaluation— generated over five years, this article describes training practices developed within a criminal justice system capacity building project in Guyana. The key stakeholders the project included members of the police force, including crime scene and police investigators, police prosecutors and public prosecutors, staff of the forensic labs, magistrates, and judges. The training sessions were led by international subject matter experts in a multidisciplinary and cross-sectional environment. Analysis of the data with reference to program’s guiding educational principles, reveals the following positive factors of the trainings: recognition of co-constructed knowledge within a learning community, cross-sector training, and ongoing workplace support. The article showcases some of training practices and offers strategies for further development of high-impact educational programs for criminal justice system. The authors argue that such training programs need to be dynamic, collaborative, responsive, iterative, and embedded in the enabling environment of a community of practice.

Keywords

• program design
• international development
• police education
• capacity building
• community of practice
• professional learning communities