Fighting crime is everybody's business....
These, and other similar phrases essentially emphasize the same message.
No-one has the only answer, or the one-and-only 'magic bullet' to resolve all forms of crime.
Consequently, with the rising level of violent crimes on the island, we also witness an increase in the initiatives intended to contribute towards fighting violent in general and violent juvenile crime in particular.
These range from from increasing the effectiveness of the police force, to establishment of the Unified Crime Task Force, school initiatives, community councils and neighborhood activities etc. etc.
We too have on February 2, 2010 recently added our contribution, to this 'mix'. (see attachment)
In this letter we stressed on the importance of going beyond repressive measures alone.
To this end, we pointed out that it is critical to understand the nature of the 'forces' which drive our youngsters ultimately into the dark world of violent crime.
One way to achieve the objective of understanding the mindset of our youngsters is to conduct an island-wide (anonymous) survey among ALL youngsters.
We proposed that a mixed committee be put in place by the authorities of both sides of the island in order to formulate such a questionnaire.
This committee we suggested, should consist of among others psychologists, sociologists, educators, legal specialists, prison officials, police officers, ex-convicts etc from BOTH sides of the island.
However, to date we have not (yet) received any reactions from those in authorities.
We therefore at this time want to appeal on others such as the USM, the Lions- or Kiwani or Rotary organizations to look into this initiative in order to get a better understanding of what are the pressures and challenges our youngsters are confronted with on a daily basis.
We would like to believe, that it is only fair to the youth that we should LISTEN to them, instead of labeling them and preparing a 'medicinal cure' for them without even asking them to assess their own 'diagnosis'.
Imagine your doctor or specialist, prescribing a regimen of medicine or treatment for you, without haven't even LISTENED to your own complaints !
In the event no-one deems it necessary to respond or to take up our proposal, our organization might have no other choice than to take the initiative for such a survey.
Again, it is our contention, that if we really want to effectively combat juvenile criminality, it is a precondition that we we find out from the young people themselves what are the relevant motivating factors thus the main sources and root causes of the manifesting symptoms that cause society so much harm.
Fighting crime without understanding the cause is a symptomatic and 'blind' approach.
Even if well-intended, it is non-scientific and at best comparable to 'trying to hit a moving a target in the dark, with blind folds on' and thus not too productive to say the least.
Leopold JAMES
