UN says Caribbean crime hurting tourism economy

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — A sweeping U.N. study finds that rising crime across the Caribbean threatens the region's tourism-based economy and has exposed a weak and ineffective judicial system.

The 2012 Caribbean Human Development Report finds that every nation except Barbados and Suriname reported a spike in homicide rates and gang-related killings over the past 12 years, even as violent crime has fallen or stabilized elsewhere across the globe.

The U.N. said Wednesday that it is the largest survey ever to focus on crime in the Caribbean.

Officials say gang-related crime costs nations of the Caribbean Community as much as 4 percent of their gross domestic product.