‘Early intervention’ to tackle school violence

Videos of school fights shared on social media could damage children’s future prospects, Minister of Legal Affairs and Criminal Justice Michael Lashley has warned, as the government considers early interventions to deal with delinquent behaviour.

He told a Crime Awareness Month activity at St Stephen’s Primary School he was concerned by a growing number of violent altercations involving young people, particularly those being circulated on social media.

He said: “I think that it will have to be an interministerial approach, and yes, I have some concerns about it. I have concerns about adults who believe that it is enjoyable to just [watch] innocent children fighting.”

Lashley noted that, in the age of social media, videos of school fights could follow the children involved well into adulthood, potentially affecting their future prospects.

The government was looking to identify and address the underlying issues contributing to delinquent behaviour, including problems at home and peer pressure, through early monitoring and intervention, he said.

“As a government, you’ll be working to treat the matters like those who treat the students like those who have issues, probably having issues at home, peer pressure or whatever. [We need] early monitoring, early intervention. That is what we are seeking to do.”

Drawing on his experience as a criminal defence lawyer, Lashley said pre-sentence reports often revealed a history of behavioural problems and repeated suspensions among offenders, sometimes beginning during their school years.

He recalled cases in which individuals had been suspended several times, transferred to other schools and continued displaying disruptive behaviour before leaving the education system without qualifications.

“What we need to do is shape our crime prevention policy to ensure that we have early intervention. So coming here today is the start of it. This is not the last visit. We’ll be coming back here to programmes that can pull some of the students into… [and] chart them on the positive path,” he said.

Lashley also reiterated the government’s intention to re-establish the Drug Treatment Court, saying substance abuse and dependency were contributing factors in many criminal cases.

“We had the drug treatment court already, so we just need to re-establish it. It’s important at this time because as [Cheryl Willoughby, Director of the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit] will tell you, a lot of these crimes are a result of drug dependency and substance abuse.”

He noted that there were numerous instances of people facing criminal charges who also struggled with significant drug dependencies, adding that a specialised court was needed to address those underlying issues.

“I believe the treatment and wellness court will be able to deal with their history of substance abuse and be able to treat it and to ensure that they’re properly reformed and that we have no issues with them in terms of anti-social behaviour.”

(SB)