Shift needed

Criminologist says juvenile justice system requires urgent overhaul to tackle crime scourge By Sheria Brathwaite A criminologist is urging a complete overhaul of the child justice system given his research findings that many major crimes, especially those involving firearms, are being committed by adults who were in trouble with the law when they were juveniles. In an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY, Kirk Alleyne said that given the “worrisome” data and the recent spate of gun crime, it was clear early intervention was urgently needed to crack down on crime. “The data is showing that there are some persons who show some maladaptive behaviours early on, under 16 years old. They are charged by the police and go into the juvenile justice system. Then after 16 years old, when we charge persons as adults, many of those persons are reoffending at very high rates. This is a major concern because it shows that juvenile delinquency is having a significant impact on our criminal landscape,” the criminal psychologist said. “What we are doing, we need to do better at. We need to do better at making sure that we remodel the behaviours that these children are showing, especially when they get involved in the juvenile justice system. Because when we can have over 50 per cent of the males who are charged as juveniles, reoffending and committing serious crimes after, it says that when we recognise these situations are occurring, we need to do all that we can to get those persons into positive activities.” Alleyne, who has been a qualified criminologist for the past four years and has 20 years of experience in law enforcement, analysed data collected from the Barbados Police Service’s Crime and Statistical Department and Crime Intelligence Unit for his research paper, An Investigation into the Recidivism Rate of Juvenile Offenders and its Impact on the Criminal Landscape of Barbados. According to those records, 1 874 minors – 1 457 males and 417 females – were charged between 2002 and June 2022. Of those juveniles, 904 – 810 males and 94 females – went on to be charged with crimes as adults. Major crimes, including serious bodily harm, endangering life, aggravated burglary and robbery, were committed by 391 of those – 375 males and 16 females. Sixty-two of them, comprising 61 males and one female, were charged with a total of 67 murders. At least five of those males were accused of multiple murders and four of the 62 eventually became murder victims. “The juvenile system may be part of the problem as the system did not successfully help those persons and try to remodel the behaviours that were displayed,” Alleyne said. “And I think this needs serious intervention because the introduction of firearms into the whole criminal environment is a very serious thing because the crime situation is evolving. It is moving from a . . . situation where one person may fight or injure another, to drive-by shootings and many people can be injured or killed. It’s a situation where groups are rivalling each other and creating serious problems.” According to the research, the average age of those who committed murder was 20 and they all came from 14 of the island’s 21 public secondary schools. Only five of them attained certification from secondary school. “If you look at the past 20 years, maybe we have had a problem going on and not really recognising that the problem really exists . . . because these children were slipping through the cracks and we may not have, over the years, probably invested a lot of research into really investigating the variables,” Alleyne said. “They may not have been picking up that we have students coming from X place or Y place. Maybe we need to look at the whole system and I think that is where the Government is on the right track of trying to change the educational system in the country and introduce a new Child Protection Bill.” The veteran law enforcement officer said he was also concerned that scores of juvenile offenders were committing serious bodily harm. Over the past 20 years, 295 juvenile offenders – 263 males and seven females – faced 307 cases of serious bodily harm. He said that 159 of those eventually ended up before the law court as adults. Alleyne said assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm were prevalent among juvenile offenders. “This highlights the propensity of those juveniles to resort to violence or the threat of violence to resolve conflict . . . . I think there needs to be a holistic approach to rehabilitating and remediating the behaviours of juveniles once they display maladaptive behaviours. Stakeholders in the juvenile system entrusted with the well-being of children should work in tandem to address the needs of juveniles to ensure that they don’t fall into the cracks [because of] a lack of cooperation. “There also needs to be a significant drive to enhance programmes that help channel the youth into positive activities during and after the completion of school . . . . An idea for an educational programme involves the provision of financial assistance for vulnerable juveniles who come into contact with the juvenile justice system so they attain a solid educational footing and pursue their desired course of study,” the criminologist said. He also addressed the role of the “block” culture in the island’s crime situation. “The block culture is a very big contributing factor to the whole criminal element. The block is like a haven to many young people because they can’t get work and have nowhere else to turn to. So the block is embracing them and creating an environment where they can get by on a daily basis. “But then the same block culture also comes with the other aspect of it, where you can have persons formulating negative ideas and going to engage in behaviours that really are unsavoury. I’m not saying that all blocks are bad as there are some very positive things that come out of the block culture, but the majority are negative,” Alleyne asserted. (Please also see Page 8 for a breakdown of key research findings) sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb]]>