Govt ‘pursuing diversion programme’ for young people

The government is moving towards establishing a diversion programme for young people aged 16 to 18 who come into contact with the justice system, as it seeks alternatives to imprisonment and the costs associated with overcrowded prisons, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Adrian Forde has told Parliament.

The minister made the disclosure on Tuesday during debate in the House of Assembly on the Penal System Reform (Amendment) Bill.

Forde said the lack of alternatives to prison places an economic burden on the country, particularly as the prison system is already congested. He also noted the economic and financial costs associated with imprisonment.

He said: “It is an onerous strain, not only on the court system, but on the penal system because these young men, if there’s no alternative to prison, cause an economic burden. The prison system is already congested, as we know it. There is an economic and financial conversation as it relates to imprisonment and we are saying once persons have not committed those serious offences, here is the opportunity to give them the skill sets and help them develop to be those citizens that can provide the foundation for our country.”

The justice system should consider people on an individual basis and take their circumstances into account, he suggested.

“When persons come in contact with the justice system, there must be a way where the system can look through that microscopic eye and say, ‘We are willing to treat persons on an individual basis, again, due to circumstances, and allow for alternatives and diversionary programmes if that person does not reach the threshold for criminal offences.’”

The government is moving towards establishing a diversionary structure for people between the ages of 16 and 18, as too many people can go astray when suitable diversionary programmes are not available, he added.

“Too many of our men who come in contact with the social systems, too many, we believe, are going astray because the diversionary systems may not be up and running in a way that we know can make a true difference. And I know government is moving apace to get persons between the ages of 16 and 18 to have that diversionary construct. I know that Barbadians will hear in the not too distant future what we are going to be rolling out with reference to giving persons that transitional and diversionary construct.”

Forde pointed to several programmes within the Ministry of Youth that could provide alternatives for young people who come into contact with the justice system: “We know full well about the Youth Advance Corps, and we know the difference that that programme has made in the young lives in this country, not only in terms of residential and behavioural change, but in terms of giving them the skill sets to be able to become a major part of the building block of this country.

“We know, of course, about Project Dawn, another programme which seeks to encapsulate those young people who are on the threshold of imploding.”

He also cited Ministry of Youth research which found that a large percentage of school leavers want to become entrepreneurs.

“Sixty per cent of school leavers have an unbridled, untamed, unequivocal, unreserved desire to be entrepreneurs, and that is why there’s a programme called the Pathway Programme in the Ministry of Youth, to give persons the opportunity to fulfil that desire,” Forde said, while also mentioning the Youth Achieving Results Programme and the Construction Gateway Programme.

Forde said the government had opened various avenues for people who have run afoul of the law, giving judges and magistrates alternatives when dispensing justice.

He also pointed to the impact of crime on victims, families and communities, many of whom come into contact with government services.

“When those victims come into contact with the government system, they usually come into contact with my ministry, whether it’s for social support, protection as it relates to the women’s shelter, or whether it is finding mechanisms for us to be able to direct their lives in terms of psychosocial-type support…and again, it calls for economic and social structures to be put in place to help support those persons, victims, families, communities.”

Forde said the Penal System Reform (Amendment) Bill represents a programme of reform that could create hope and help people, particularly young men, change the course of their lives. (LG)