COWARDLY young people, the judiciary, 'high-maintenance' women, the US, the Privy Council, opposition parties, the media, the Pope and the mother of Dr Ralph Gonsalves - these were among the culprits listed at this week's historic two-day regional symposium on crime.

The setting of the event was incredibly formal, taking place under heavy security at the plush Hyatt Regency in downtown Port of Spain.

But any hope that it would be more than a glorified talk shop was shattered by the contribution of St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Gonsalves on day one.

Setting the wrong tone, Dr Gonsalves threw up an offensive confection of old-hat ideas that made clear Caricom leaders were not prepared to offer anything new.

Saying people in 'taverns' were calling for the resumption of the death penalty, the St Vincent PM said he had been taught by the RC Church and his mother that hanging was not right.

'I happen to think the Pope and my mother were wrong,' he said.

Dr Gonsalves is his country's most successful politician. He has made a career of using soundbites to gain support. While his desire to bring grassroots perspectives to bear on policy-making is laudable, some might say he has been attending too carefully to the goings-on in taverns.

With murders spiralling, the region was looking for sober new ideas coming out of the symposium. Instead, we were served the same ole, same ole.

In the case of Dr Gonsalves, we also got sexist tripe, as well as shockingly insensitive rhetoric involving the issue of suicide for which no trigger warning was given. Of judges, who must balance the human rights of all when granting bail, he asked whether they lived on Mars. Of him, many might ask the same.

Meanwhile, fellow leaders like the normally forward-thinking Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley joined in, lamenting how in her day bail for the offence of murder was unimaginable. Seldom was there any sensible acknowledgement of the real challenges posed by, for instance, white-collar crime.

The irony is that the theme of the event - crime as a public health emergency - was actually forward-thinking.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar was correct to state that crime itself is not a public health matter, but it leads to public health issues (she was also proven right in her scepticism over this week's event).

Yet it cannot be denied that crime affects our health. It takes away resources from our already beleaguered hospital system, as the Prime Minister noted in his address. And it also has a devastating impact on our mental well-being.

Sadly, this week's event confirms our regional leaders are stuck on the same sick tropes and strategies thathave long proven ineffective. There remains no cure in sight.