High rates of violent crime will persist in The Bahamas until the criminal justice system is restored.
Based on the data in the 2010 prison report, there really is not a justice system here to ensure justice to victims of violent crime.
Of the 749 people who were sentenced in 2010, 72 percent of them were sentenced to serve a year or less in prison; 12 percent, or 93 inmates, were sentenced to more than two years; only 13 people (less than two percent of the people admitted to prison last year) were sentenced to 10 years or more in prison. The higher sentences are issued for serious violent crimes.
In 2010, only two people were sentenced for murder. Only four were sentenced for rape. And those people were likely sentenced for crimes committed years before.
If there is no punishment, there is no deterrent to the behavior.
Consequently, offenders keep offending.
The problem in The Bahamas is not that people do not pray enough, or that they do not go to church, or that they have turned away from God. The problem is that we do not punish people for breaking the rules of our society.
Significant pressure needs to be put on the leadership of the police force and the Attorney General’s Office who are responsible for overseeing the prosecution of accused people.
If they cannot ensure that the quality of cases improves and the rate of prosecution increases, then new leaders of these organizations need to be found.
The Bahamian criminal justice system is too dysfunctional. We must do better.
