You mean to say we haven’t learned anything about the correlation between unemployment and crime? You mean to say that the authorities have not acknowledged this and are not addressing it?
After the spate of murders these past few weeks, a couple of neighbourhood riots and shootouts, threats on the prime minister and the killing of two businessmen this weekend (one in Nassau and one in Freeport), it is difficult to ignore the facts.
What is being done to address an economic slump that can only result in higher unemployment? What is being done to focus younger men on productive and law-abiding ways to make a living? How is the lack of appreciation and enforcement of social rules and norms being addressed? Are we seeing the beginning of a serious breakdown in law and order?
These are questions being asked by almost everyone today. No group, race, class or area seems to be without fear of crime, especially rape and murder – both of which we have been advised are increasing again. And how is it that violent offenders are still granted bail under these circumstances?
Why is it that mothers and children continue to mourn the loss of husbands and fathers, brutally slain by people who do not respect person or property?
What has happened to the Royal Bahamas Police Force, which was advancing so well, to allow it once again to earn the wrath of entire streets and neighbourhoods?
Where will it all end?
The government must take serious steps to combat this crime orgy, to rescue fearful citizens and to ensure that the guilty are punished and rehabilitated. There are a few networks, such as Prison Fellowship Bahamas, which help convicted felons, readjust to a society intolerant of ex-felons.
But it is clear that alternatives to Fox Hill are needed.
One such option is Archbishop Burke’s “restorative justice” programme.
Another is Jeff Lloyd’s YEAST programme, which takes young men identified as “at risk” and places them in a structured, disciplined school environment on Deveaux Street and a boot camp on Eleuthera to expose them to a life within the bounds of law and order. There is also the umbrella programme called Safe Bahamas that raises money from the private sector to support such important community initiatives.
But where is the sense of urgency from the public sector, from our nation’s leaders? We need action. We need solutions. We need guidance.
Editorial, The Nassau Guardian
