By Charminae George
Youth violence has seemingly been on the rise in recent months and, according to the main police prosecutor in the Magistrate’s Court, Inspector Dane Bontiff, this could be fuelled by a lack of stringent penalties assigned to juvenile offences, among other factors.
He anecdotally spoke of conversations where young individuals expressed that they were unfazed by the potential repercussions for juvenile offenders.
“In recent times, persons have indicated to me, based on conversations with children, that because of how the act is structured, they would indicate, ‘well, I get locked up for a couple of hours but I’m going home, I’m not going to jail’,” he stated on Sunday’s edition of the Big Issues.
“So, I’m getting a sense that children are now seeing this act as a means of ‘okay, nothing much is going to happen to me if I do something very serious and, therefore, I can get away with petty things’,” he added.
Bontiff said many instances of youth violence are the result of school rivalry. He also spoke of the involvement of drug use.
“We had a few cases…and practically eight out of 10 persons who had to go through a series of counselling and rehabilitation would have indicated that at some point…[they] took marijuana or used it in conjunction with other drugs like crack,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Alister Thomas, president of the National Parent Teachers Association, renewed calls for parents to be more involved in their children’s lives in an effort to stem youth violence.
“Parenting in this particular period where our children are being exposed in ways that other generations are not exposed…parents need to pay greater attention. They are very much missing and in some cases absent,” he told the Big Issues show.
According to the Child Justice Act 2015, the maximum penalty a child under the age of 18 can face is up to three years in prison. This is only in circumstances where, “(a) the child was over the age of fourteen years of age at the time of commission of the offence”, “(b) the offence for which the child is convicted is an offence listed under Schedule III, or murder or treason”, or “(c) substantial and compelling reasons exist for imposing a sentence of imprisonment, which may include a previous failure to respond to alternative sentences”.
The offences listed in Schedule III include rape, robbery, “indecent assault involving the infliction of grievous bodily harm”, “indecent assault on a person under the age of eighteen years”, drug trafficking, and manslaughter.
The Child Justice (Amendment) Act 2018 raised the age of criminal responsibility from eight to 12, reflecting similar legislation in the Caribbean region.
The lowest age of criminal responsibility around the world is seven, with this in effect in places such as North Carolina in the United States. The highest age is 16 and is present in countries such as Argentina and Cuba, according to the website of the Child Rights International Network (CRIN).
Additionally, Part XII, 75 of the Child Justice Act 2015 states that criminal records for children under the age of 18 will eventually be expunged, except in circumstances of murder or treason. This is to allow for the rehabilitation of minors, according to Inspector Bontiff.