In the Magistrate’s Court last month, three of this country’s young and able-bodied citizens were prosecuted and found guilty of perpetrating one of the more violent home invasions in recent times.
This vicious crime – an attack on a businessman and his wife, herself a member of the justice system – for which the court convicted Dameion Millington 22, Nicolas Narine 18, and Warren McKenzie 22, has attracted just and lawful punishment. But with the mantle of crime heavy on their shoulders, this trio represents a downward spiral in our youth population into coldly calculated and viciously executed crimes of robbery and murder.
As with most statistics in Guyana, there are no readily available, detailed statistical bifurcations relating to crime, age of perpetrators, educational and parental background, motives, etc, for a proper analysis to be made of the causes and cures for the burgeoning number of criminally involved youth in the country. There is no database giving detailed information including the age ranges of those currently incarcerated and before the courts, and those convicted. Whatever records we do have, nevertheless, do indicate that we have a serious problem with youth criminality that requires urgent and strategic intervention.
This country is in the throes of a social regression that points, among other things, to a youth separation from school, community and religion. Across this land, an increasing number of our young seem to have traded in civility and respect for law and order, for thuggery and violence.
Based on police reports, court documents and press reports, within the last year alone, this country has seen a growing number of young people emerge on the criminal scene as having plotted and executed robberies and murders. The actual count aside, a more worrying trend is the calculated element of these assaults.
In April, four persons, including a 12 year- old girl, were indicted for the murder of Non Pareil pensioner Roger Manikam. Those charged included the daughter of the deceased Nalinie Manikam, 18, her boyfriend Veeram Dias-Lall, 24, and his friend, Devon Brown, 23. The quartet, for reasons to be further ventilated during the trial, allegedly worked on a plan on how to get rid of Manikam and this included calling in assistance along the way.
Shortly after this incident, the shocking murder of retired Professor Pariedeau Mars was reported in May. Mars was discovered dead in his Prashad Nagar home and hours later six teenagers, including two girls, were arrested with a quantity of items stolen from him and found in their possession. Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum later confirmed the arrests and revealed that the suspects were between the ages of 15 to 18 years old. This gang also gave detailed statements to police which included information on how allegedly they huddled together in ‘C’ Field, Sophia, to split the loot after robbing and killing Mars.
There are a number of theoretical reasons why youths are involved in crime: inequality, downward intergenerational mobility, poverty and substance abuse and popular culture, among others. And while there are many facets and aspects to how the issues are addressed at a governmental level, it is important to perhaps start with a focus on education. The predisposition of school dropouts to be involved in more risky behaviour can perhaps be tempered by time spent pursuing educational activities since education can have a positive impact on young people.
In the United States there is evidence, based on minimum high school dropout ages that vary across states, that keeping youth in school decreases arrest rates and consequently, involvement in crime. The compulsory school leaving age in Guyana is 16 years. While the solution to effectively tackling youth crimes extends beyond keeping them in school, it is certainly a constructive approach in the right direction.
What do we know of the education attainment of the young offenders we have seen within the last year alone? The answer is very little, but the large majority of young criminals actively at work in this country are not actively in school. By active, we mean they are not attending regularly, they are not being graded on any frequent basis, they are not sitting examinations, and they are certainly not graduating. This ought to affect and/or concern not just their families and communities, but every citizen who is interested in building a better Guyana.
The education solution is a slow road, but it is more likely to lead to positive and enduring change. By educating new generations we offer them not only knowledge, but opportunities to find legitimate work, to engage in problem solving and critical thinking, to increase returns on whatever area of study they have focused on, and to actively participate in the nation’s development.
While we are drafting our plans around risk aversion and the idleness that is plaguing our youth population in this land, it would be fitting to reflect on the words Edgar Hoover uttered decades ago. He wisely mused that: “The progress of youth from his first semi-innocent participation in the minor infractions in a street corner gang through the weary course of police stations, juvenile courts, higher places of justice…is such that it seems to contaminate everyone with whom the victim comes into contact – the innocent as well as the guilty.”
