Questions were raised but no clear answer could be given on what the root cause of the crime upsurge was.
Senator Reverend David Durant attributed much of the problem to a breakdown in the family especially the “decline” in fathers, but Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite did not quite see it that way.
“We have a high rate of fatherlessness in our community and that could be contributing to the level of abandonment and neglect, so that could be a part of our problem,” Senator Durant said.
This was one of the points he made on Wednesday when the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit held the first of a series of town hall meetings at the Princess Margaret School in Six Roads, St Philip.
The panellists included moderator Starcom Network’s Station manager David Ellis, Brathwaite, Durant, reformed criminal Mario Bruce, Assistant Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce and president of the Barbados Youth Action Programme, Lamumba Batson.
“I do believe we are faced with the highest level of unchurched young people in our community and hence I believe that could be part of the reason for the level of defiant behaviour,” he added.
However, the Attorney General disagreed, adding that mothers were always at the forefront.
“We have always had women heading our households in Barbados. The history will show that . . . I think we need to examine what’s the difference between the women in my mother’s time and . . . the women today,” Brathwaite said.
He added that new ways must be identified to teach moral values that were once mainly passed down in church.
“One does not have to be religious to be taught morals, one does not have to be religious to be taught that stealing or killing is wrong. So we have to accept that in society, yes, we may have fewer young people going to church, but we have to find other ways to teach them the moral foundations that you and I grew up on and still live with,” Brathwaite added. (TG)