While much of the crime which does take place in this country does not make the news, the ones that do are invariably brutal, and nasty. Children are being brutalized, and then murdered. In other information coming in, the public is fed a steady diet concerning a spate of so-called domestic violence. The same thing applies to the nationﾴs streets.
To put the matter as delicately as possible, something is dreadfully wrong in this country. Some superficial analyses point the blaming finger at any number of discrete causes. Some analysts and observers talk about social decay, while others describe the crime scene as a product of unchecked urbanization. And, of course, pastors and others speak about the rising level of sinfulness. The truth, today, is that no matter which angle or perspective adopted, there is an emerging consensus that things are bad, and might be getting worse.
Curiously, things seem to be going bad, even as the national economy seems to be moving in a growth direction. Even some of the governmentﾴs harshest critics concede this point. The question therefore arises concerning the real reasons behind the upsurge in crime.
When we reflect on how this country is developing, and evolving we are constrained to suggest that The Bahamian story is that of two cities, residing in one place. As Charles Dickens put it concerning another country, in another time: it was a tale of two cities in one place. In the Bahamas, apparently very different people occupy the two cities. On the one hand, is that glittering city of balls, pageants, and gaudy glitter. The people in that city are all well housed, well fed, and comfortable.
People who live, as it were, on the margins populate the other city. They live in ﾑmake-doﾴ accommodations; their diets are poor; and very many of them are in distress. On occasion, some of these people fight among themselves, and on occasion, someone is either maimed, or killed. These are the stories, which are put under the rubric, ﾓdomestic violenceﾒ.
But, as we have previously suggested, The Bahamas is a paradoxical place. Some might go as far as to suggest that it is schizoid. Its story is very much a tale of two cities in one place. On any given day, the news about what is happening in the Bahamas talks about new business starts, memoranda of understanding, and all manner of glowing reports about how much better things are getting in the country.
But yet again, there are other compelling stories, which speak to another reality. This time around it is all about crimes and other deviant behavior. Indeed, no day passes when there is not an ugly report about rapes, robberies, and other dastardly crimes and offences against persons and property. Truth be told, life in The Bahamas, like life anywhere else, is subject to the ebb and flow of situation, and circumstances.
And, for sure, there are social realities, which derive from and are heavily influenced by race, class, gender, and ethnicity. Who you are, determines what you get, and how you live. On occasion, therefore things are trending upward for some, and downward for others.
Anyone who would have been observing The Bahamas over the course of the past decade, or so would be quite aware of what we are talking about. We are also quite certain that those with a longer perspective on the Bahamian social scene, would suggest that it was the drugs trade, and the fascination some Bahamians had with getting rich quick which played, and continues to play a large role in fortifying criminal culture, and behavior in this country. And, as everyone know by now, that trade made a few Bahamians rich, and very many others in dire distress.
Those times echo, even now. In a sense, then the past is never truly past. Seeds planted yesterday are now coming to bloom. The man, who commits a rape today, was yesterday an abused, and inadequately nurtured child. The teenaged girl, who is pregnant today, is yesterdayﾴs girl-child who was not given the right care. As we have repeatedly advised, when society fails its members, crime, and social distress invariably follows. This country is today reaping the harvest of woe, whose seeds were planted yesterday.
No where is this as painfully obvious, as it is in a decrepit criminal justice system, which has become little more than a cruel revolving door for so very many young men and women. Currently available statistics, and a panoply of anecdotal evidence suggests that drugs and alcohol abuse plays a large role in the troubles these people face. While we do not have precise figures at hand concerning the numbers of Bahamian youth involved in the street sale of drugs, our police informants tell us that the figure is high and rising.
And, we know for sure, that drugs and alcohol invariably addle many of the men and women who do reach the attention of the police. Some of them are literally demented. The implication here is that many of these criminals are made worse when they are carted off to prison, and where they are further brutalized. To put the matter as bluntly as possible, these people need treatment, rather than punishment. This is what should happen to people who are ill.
We would venture that many of the more fiendish crimes are committed by men and women, who are ill, estranged from themselves, and civilized society. But, yet again, we must not forget that they are products of this so-called and self-styled civilized community. This is the core of The Bahamian dilemma, as regards crime, and criminals.
Editorial, The Bahama Journal
