Judge makes appeal

Based on statistical data in New York, there is evidence to suggest that there is a direct relationship between the absence of education and those in the criminal justice system.

This is according to Justice Sylvia Hinds-Radix, an Associate Justice of the NYS Appellate Division, as she delivered the 26th Louis A. Lynch Memorial Lecture, which took place at the Frank Collymore Hall Tuesday night.

“I have seen what the absence of education can do and as I sit on the bench, in my role as a judge, I see over the statistical data that clearly demonstrates that there is a relationship between the lack of education and contact with the criminal justice system,” she said.

“Statistics demonstrate that there are clearly a large number of individuals who end their education prematurely and who are in the criminal justice system, and that is something that we as a nation have to work with because as progressive as it is where I am at, we should work hard to ensure that it doesn’t overtake this nation.”

She explained that when they speak of the absence of education, it does not always mean that education is not there, but that people are not “availing themselves to it” .

As such, she believes that something needs to be done to attract young people to continue their education.

“In addition to that fact, I think we need to understand that everybody can’t be a doctor or lawyer and we need to understand what our young people are interested in and have that significant focus and ensure that the avenues are there for them and that we support them,” she said.

She went on to note that in her conversations on Tuesday with other Louis Lynch old scholars, it was revealed that the late Louis Lynch allowed children to go to school even though they did not have the funds to pay for tuition.

“He didn’t let anybody know, but those kids couldn’t pay tuition and he still allowed them to come and that’s what I mean when I say us ‘ensuring that we grow as a nation’, and that those are the things we have to do – the selfless things – to understand that we are our brother’s keepers,” she said.