AG makes case for new juvenile centre

Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite believes that having a new juvenile centre is another way to deal with the issue of juvenile crime.

His remark came as he gave a lunchtime lecture at the Democratic Labour Party’s Headquarters yesterday evening.

“I’m proposing to opening a new juvenile centre, but it will call for a change of thinking in terms of how we approach juvenile crime,” he said.

He argued that we should not be locking up the 15 and 16 year olds that, for example, break into a person’s home. Instead, he believes we should work with them and try to ascertain why they deemed it necessary to break into the person’s house to begin with. Where possible, he stated, if there are any social needs that they can provide to the young person they should fight to provide it, and expressed that there should be a “team approach” when dealing with a child that comes before the court.

He explained that his vision is to see a teamwork attitude with the youth and their parents or guardians as they try to help them see the error of their ways, and truly understand the negative connotations attached to leading a life of crime.

The Attorney General acknowledged that his vision called for there to be specialised judges, more social workers, more probation officers and training for persons involved in the system. However, he states that going this route will have long-term benefits, not only in the lives of the young offenders, but also on the crime rate in the region.