The Tribune

A JULY 28 column entitled “Getting Away with Murder and Other Crimes?” noted that we have lost much of the plot in our criminal justice system, arguing that the inability of the criminal justice system to try and to punish an offender in a timely manner is one of the reasons for the high level of crime in the country.

A subsequent column on August 4, entitled, “Good Habits Help Reduce Crime”, noted how youth development programmes may help to significantly address youth violence and crime.

That column ended with this plea: “There is a broad variety of effective programmes in other jurisdictions which we can apply in The Bahamas to cultivate, mitigate and arrest certain habits by those tempted to or involved in gang violence.

“Sadly, over the course of decades, no government has adopted successful programmes like Upward Bound or other intensive and immersive youth diversion programmes. Alas, we are good at saying the right things while dramatically failing to put talk into life-saving action.”

Last week, Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis stated the government’s intention to propose a broader crime prevention plan. Correspondingly, today’s column briefly offers two successful international crime prevention programmes that are saving lives and redirecting young people from crime and violence.

In a small country like The Bahamas, where most of the crime is concentrated on New Providence, there are proven initiatives in other countries in which the Government of The Bahamas might invest to promote a greater culture of life and peace.

In his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) Pope John Paul II wrote movingly of the value of human life, rooted in the Roman Catholic social tradition’s touchstone of the radical dignity of the human person.

In every land, in every time, the cultures of life and death contend for the human spirit. In this time, in our country, the battle is waged on many fronts, but particularly so in a culture awash in criminal violence and an acceptance of and willful connivance in all manner of criminality by some.

To foster the culture of life and to address criminal violence require various strategies, including that of prevention. There are various specific preventative methods which should be utilized by the police and others, including better surveillance, the hardening of targets and other measures.

But a much broader strategy of prevention requires intervention, the ability to redirect potential offenders away from crime before they have offended or to redirect an offender after a first offence.

Such intervention can make a critical difference among potential juvenile offenders before their lives become enmeshed in criminality. In addressing the complex nature of crime, we are responding to a culture of death, in which human life is often disrespected and dispensable.

The spread of a gangland culture spawned by the scourge of drugs and violence of the late 1970s and 80s metastasized over the ensuing decades into the virulent culture of violence and anti-social behaviour which haunts us today with all manner of crimes and viciousness we once thought impossible for Bahamians.

In addressing criminal conduct we are not simply addressing certain behaviours. We are more fundamentally addressing cultural patterns and behaviours. At root, we have to respond to the sociology of crime in The Bahamas.

Our culture is sicker and more pathological in various ways than we dare believe. In our own slack behaviour and tolerance for various types of crime we contribute to a culture of lawlessness and violence.

To help to build a greater culture of life and responsibility in The Bahamas will require programmes and interventions which foster good and sustained habits which some in our society may have never had or practised.

Because the courts are so overwhelmed, many criminals believe that the consequences for crimes committed today, may be years down the road, if ever.

While aggressive policing is required to address certain criminals, there is an urgent need for a programme of unprecedented social intervention to address potential criminals, mostly young men, who may wreak havoc on our society in the years ahead.

The culture of death must be met by a culture of life-giving possibilities beyond the death dealing of gangs, guns and other avenues and instruments of violence.

Fostering a culture of life and avenues to help others to avoid or to step out of the darkness may make a difference. Making that difference requires a sustained and massive social intervention strategy with various components.

One of the components is youth development with programmes like Outward Bound and AMIkids, both of which have shown considerable success.

Outward Bound is an “experiential learning, expedition school and outdoor learning programme... that serves people of all ages and backgrounds through challenging learning expeditions that inspire self-discovery, both in and out of the classroom.”

The highly successful global initiative also offers a programme known as the Intercept Programme for At-Risk Youth and Troubled Teens, specifically designed as a youth intervention programme.

It is designed for young people from ages 12 to 22 and addresses “the needs of struggling teens and at-risk youth beginning to demonstrate destructive behaviours, as well as the needs of their families”.

The Intercept Programme serves “youth, young adults, families, schools and communities ... at risk of academic failure, dropping out of school, delinquency or becoming chronic offenders.”

The Government of The Bahamas may want to send a team to look at the Intercept Programme. The Bahamas could build an outdoor and adventure learning programme that will assist various young people to develop life-giving habits.

Another successful programme is AMIkids, the brainchild of a judge in the United States who got tired of seeing the same juvenile offenders returning to his court over and over.

“The youth reside at the programme and leave only for off-site, supervised programme activities or approved furloughs. Family visitations vary by programme. Youth have been adjudicated delinquent by the court and typically have multiple misdemeanors or felonies.

“Education curriculums deployed in AMIkids programmes use differentiated instruction, individualized student planning, progress monitoring, on-line/computer assisted educational software, and experiential education/service learning, all in partnership with pro-social relationships between staff and students.

“Many youth come to AMIkids ‘deficient in a wide variety of appropriate, pro-social behavioral repertoires. They lack social skills, anger management, pre-employment skills, communication, self-management, rule following, delay of immediate gratification, etc.’

“To help students develop short-and long-term pro-social behavioural repertories, and facilitate the daily management of behaviour throughout the programme, AMIkids programmes employ procedures and techniques of behaviour modification and utilise a sophisticated behaviour modification system.”

Like Outward Bound and other successful intervention programmes, AMIkids utilises experiential learning: “Programmes are integrated based on the geographic strengths of each location and include seamanship, water safety, fishing, low ropes, high ropes, backpacking, music, gardening, culinary arts, reptile and wilderness programmes to give each student meaningful and challenging experiences in a variety of ways. “

Another possible intervention programme may be designed based on the inspiration of the highly successful Afro Reggae arts programme in Brazil, which would marry the performing arts and artistic abilities of young people, especially those at risk, with entrepreneurial skills and business training.

Imagine a youth arts centre in the heart of an Over-the-Hill neigbourhood, something new and awe-inspiring for young people to see in their neigbourhood.

While the Simpson Penn Centre for Boys and the Willi Mae Pratt Centre for Girls may be required, we need a greater and more imaginative vision for youth intervention and development beyond what currently exists in The Bahamas.

When he was leaving elected politics, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham offered: “The work of the House of Assembly is never done. So, as I prepare to retire from the House I express my hopes for continued progress on several fronts.”

Two of his suggestions: “A reduction in the level of violent crime and the enhancement of a more peaceful and non-violent society [and] a more fully developed network of youth and human development programmes inclusive of effective social intervention measures, and a focused attention to public health.”

Note to Prime Minister Davis: Please be bold and expansive in adopting strategies and interventions to help build a greater culture of life, especially for young Bahamians!