Save our juveniles from lives of crime

Tue, Jun 03, 2014

The execution style killing of two young brothers in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday is shocking and has taken the violence that we are used to hearing about in that country to a new low.

News reports indicate that the nine and 15 year-old were not “saints” themselves, since they were allegedly involved in robberies and other crimes during their short lives (see story on page 16).{{more}}

It leaves one to wonder what could have been done to prevent these boys from taking the path they were on and to save their lives.

What could have driven someone, whether adult or juvenile, to think that executing those two children was justifiable?

Trinidad and Tobago is literally only a few hundred miles away, but we hope that what transpired there on Sunday, is metaphorically light years away St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

We can only hope that the Juvenile Justice Reform Project that is being implemented in SVG and the rest of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) helps our children from taking a similar route or ending up in a similar situation. We hope that the outcomes of the project are sustainable and make a real difference.

Under the project, more rehabilitative than punitive sentencing of our juveniles is being explored. It is hoped that the counselling and other social interventions could catch vulnerable juveniles early and move them away from the growing trend in which we see criminals and victims getting younger and younger.

Just last month, during her address to mark Child’s Month, Minister of Education Girlyn Miguel lamented the level of violence being displayed in our schools.

It is commendable that concrete steps are being taken to save our at risk juveniles from a life of crime, and our society from the dangerous criminals they could become.

It is at the youthful stage that most of our hardened criminals get their first introduction to a life on the wrong side of the law.

Anything, within our means, that could be done to save them from this path and from the end the two youngsters in Trinidad met, should be done.