A Government backbencher, concerned about the increasing level of violence in the country, particularly those involving firearms, is adamant that a whole-of-society approach is needed to address the problem and not just a legal one.
Member of Parliament for St. Michael West Central, James Paul, contends that it is narrow-minded for persons to adopt a legalistic approach to the problem, which has seen some over 20 people being murdered this year so far, 19 as the result of gun violence.
“We all must be concerned and there are those who say that Government must do something about it and that is true, but Government cannot do it alone. It must be all hands on deck. Also, adopting mainly a legalistic approach to try to deal with it will not solve the problem. We have to look at what is happening in our society that is causing our young people to turn to crime and drugs,” he said.
Paul added, “There are some people who will say it is because of the harsh economic environment, but this is not the first time Barbados has seen harsh economic times. But, what we are seeing for the first time is that some young people are seeing crime as an attractive alternative, rather than trying to get into mainstream, acceptable and gainful employment.”
What is worse, Paul contended, is that there are some adults who are even prepared to push young people into a life of crime for their own gain, and he believes these persons must be exposed and made to answer for their actions. Paul made it clear that he is not suggesting that criminals should not be brought to justice, and the full weight of the law brought to bear on the culprits, but he said those who facilitate and help to create these criminals need to be held accountable too.
“We have people in our society, who they themselves do not commit the crime, but they encourage young people to go out there and commit the crime and the money comes back to them. These are the types of things we need to focus on, to identify those individuals, and prevent them from destroying future generations of Barbadians because their actions are hurting our youth and hurting our society,” he maintained.
He added, “What about the families who fail to give instruction to their young people, who leave them out there for people to pollute their minds? We are not speaking about that, because in this society we always adopt the blame game, in other words it is not me. But each of us has to look and see the extent to which we are contributing to the problem. It is not the fault of the Government or the politician because in a sense, the youth are reflecting what is going on in the society as a whole and we need to look at ourselves and ask what are we creating.”
Paul maintained that in addition to the individuals, the Church too has a major role to play in helping persons find and maintain their moral compass and the correct patterns of behaviour they should adopt. (JRT)