SOMETIME ago I submitted a letter commenting on a newspaper’s coverage of “Knife wielding teenage criminals nabbed as they rob schoolboy.” That letter did not get the nod from the editor, hence it was not published. Maybe, it was due to my choice of words or the message it was meant to convey that publication was denied; however, I still stand by every thought and word communicated therein. In that letter I stated emphatically that “I revel at the sight of criminal/criminals when being caught. I make no bones about that and added to it, and very important, is the fact that these scums are safely locked away. And this is precisely the point I am making. Our bad boys are not adequately taken care of by the justice system; they keep letting them off the hook time and time again, something that worries me greatly.
When you have youngsters having a rap sheet as long as a shopping list, then it begs the question what was the justices thinking when these cases were brought before them? Certainly, they were not the least sensible to see to it that they are put in a place where they belong away from normal society.
We need to be protected from the bandits. Society is screaming for this to happen. Something is radically wrong with the justice system when this kind of situation arises.
Then, what took place in the Odel Chase situation is bound to happen. Not for the want of trying, not for the want of arrests and court cases why this youngster and others of his kind were not hidden away from society? It was a justice system that let them down. Odel Chase had to pay the ultimate price for his deeds; something that I do not gloat over, but respectfully agree with. Armed robbers, who by the way are murderers, look at his rap sheet, will receive their just desserts. This is what’s going to happen if the justice system continues to afford criminals the opportunity to evade prosecution.
I will also say some media houses have let us down. I read an editorial in the print media that runs like this: the government needs to provide jobs for the youths as well as the age range for armed banditry keeps getting lower and lower. Another comment states that most of the crimes are committed by persons from the depressed communities of inner city areas. Again, artfully written with the overriding thought that “the government’ is ultimately responsible; the government is the cause.
Well, I must remind that editor that education is still free from nursery to university; when I say university I am saying the cost a Guyanese pays for his education here in Guyana is just a fraction of the cost someone pays overseas. So it really is a situation of education being free up to that level. Now, take a good look at the persons who go to school to learn something. Not the ones from the depressed communities (at least a sizeable few). They just “hang around school” talk to the teachers and you will know.
The reality is, most of these youths have their eyes well set on easy street, address-“Criminal Avenue.” Therefore school and things of that nature are not appealing to them. Did you (editor in question) take a good look at the vehicle they were travelling in? If that editor didn’t, I ask him to have a second look. Spanking new, owned by individuals who never worked in a legitimate way. An AT 192, the type you always hear about as the getaway vehicle at crime scenes.
This tells us what is the inspiration and what fires them up to live a life of crime, what motivates them to become career criminals. This type of attitude would not change until we do the right thing. Have motivational speeches at inner city clubs or hangouts to help them to see a better road. Have them pattern their lives after positive role models. Choose a career, develop a talent there are so many areas; music, drama, art and craft. Get a job, stay employed. If you think that working for someone else is demeaning or as they say “the job does not pay”, then be creative; develop a job of your own; become self employed.

In conclusion, I must say that ultimately criminals will have to answer the call with their lives if the justice system keeps allowing them and when those who know better keep making excuses for them.