By Gabriella Chapman

RECOGNISING the need for an intervention in the lives of the youths in Sophia, newly graduated Criminologist, Sherry Ann Hinds, has returned home with hopes of improving the standards of youths in her community.

The 21-year-old shared her story in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, highlighting some of her key focus in the eradication of crimes in Guyana.

Hinds said that her aspiration is to become a lawyer, but the Criminology path, however, chose her, through a scholarship she was awarded to study the programme at the University of Southern Caribbean (USC), in Trinidad.

All was not lost, she said, as criminology is closely related to law, and with the knowledge she has gained, she can still make a significant contribution to her country.
Hinds explained that Criminology is the scientific study of the criminal mind.
“It wasn’t just criminology though, it was Criminal Justice as well. We studied the various agencies like the prisons, and how they function, and we also looked at the court system,” she said.

Explaining further that “It was close to law in the sense that some of the courses included law because I did criminal law as one of the courses. But basically it focuses more on the criminal itself; like what causes a person to become a criminal, and we study the factors that would have led to that, and how we can deal with those factors, to curb it.”
Though exposed to several aspects of the law and criminals, Hinds said her most favourite component of the programme was profiling.

“We had to learn how to profile a serial killer, and that was very interesting. So I’m looking to go into criminal prosecuting, and also use my background in criminology to help me with that,” the young woman said.

Improving Sophia youths
Hinds believes that with the knowledge she has gained during her four years of study at USC, she can implement strategies and solutions to decrease the crime rate in Guyana. However, her focus would be predominantly on Sophia.

”Since I live in Sophia, and well we know about the area and how crime is very high. So I want to actually be able to use my degree to help develop the area, by looking at ways in which I can help our young people, especially those who are labelled as ‘troubled’. I can use my degree to create something that can include them, and encourage them to stay away from a life of crime,” she said.

The young woman said that she believes the major contributing factor to the high crime rate is poverty.

“I think the high crime in Sophia is based on the lack of economic opportunities that are awarded to our youths. Looking at this you have to know exactly what causes the crime rate in the community, then you can develop a proper plan. We need to formulate plans that can help deter them from crime. So knowing that economic exclusion is a contributing factor, I will need to try and get donations for the community, and give them opportunities that can afford them to see there is another way out,” Hinds posited.

Noting further “Education is a very important way also. When you teach the youths that there is something else they can aim for, something else that they can turn to other than crime, it will help a great deal. And we need to start when they are young, so when they are older, this is something they will look at, instead of crimes.”

Noting the aforementioned, Hinds is looking to collaborate with other organisations and communities to help bring about awareness to young people that crime is not the answer.
In the meanwhile, the young woman said she can use her degree to do consultations.