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Juvenile Delinquency and the missing village

Above: Dickson Igwe
By Dickson Igwe

Juvenile delinquency in the Virgin Islands is a social, cultural, and economic devourer: a ravenous beast. If it is allowed to grow as swiftly as it is growing at present, it will destroy the fabric of Virgin Islands society. Juvenile delinquency can be defeated however, through intervention early in the life of the child at danger, especially the area of learning. It can be further tackled through corrective education during the teenage years of the delinquent.

EDUCATION is KEY to defeating the delinquency OCTOPUS. Education increases knowledge, it also establishes character and culture in youth through learning. Education empowers the child and teen. Increasing educational ability further increases the self esteem of juveniles. Educational success, both academic and vocational, is the pathway to social and economic success in today’s knowledge economy.

There is clear evidence that success in education promotes positive behaviors in children and teenagers. Even in short academic exercises, educators have observed that children with behavioural and learning issues, that are made to focus on basic math or English tasks, begin to improve cognitive ability, reflect on what they have learned, and experience a ‘’feel good factor,’’ from their efforts.

There is a positive spillover from the education process that presents a well rounded, well adjusted, and socially grounded individual who is of benefit to society. However, this attribute of the education process, that affects juvenile behaviour, must be recognized and appreciated, as a beneficial and crucial product of national education.

The following narrative is part of a series of stories on juvenile delinquency in the Virgin Islands. It is the result of months of research on the topic by the writer. This study of the subject was undertaken at the Hamilton Lavity Stoutt Community College. It begins by alluding to a news story on the subject. It further assesses responses to the previous article on juvenile delinquency and the juvenile delinquency challenge: ‘’SLAYING THE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY BEAST.’’

To begin, and a story on an online news site of April 9, 2014, was titled, ‘’ JUVENILE CENTER WANTED.’’ It was a narrative that stated that a facility was required for juvenile delinquents in the Virgin Islands. This was especially so after a number of teenagers allegedly threw fuel on a homeless male, setting him alight. The atrocity happened at a supermarket complex on the outskirts of Road Town. It was an awful and deadly prank indeed! However, this is just the tip of the juvenile delinquency iceberg in this Researcher’s lengthy observations of the matter.

The assertion in that headline story, that a juvenile facility was required in the Virgin Islands, concurred with this Writer’s research recommendations. The research project determined that a boarding school type juvenile learning facility was required to combat the juvenile delinquency challenge in the Virgin Islands.

Now, in a response to the April 12, 2014, preamble on the issue, a story titled, ‘’ SLAYING THE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY BEAST,’’ a blogger called JUST WRONG, asserted that juvenile delinquency was a growing and serious problem in the country. This was evidenced in a recent incident where tourists were shot at while delinquents boarded their boat. The blogger further described the increase in, “young men stealing dinghies.’’ The blogger was certain that this sad situation was hurting tourism, as travel blogs were highlighting the matter of juvenile crime in the Virgin Islands. Again this is just a single tentacle of the ‘’juvenile delinquency octopus.’’

NP POLITICO is a blogger greatly respected on the public online forum in the Virgin Islands. The blogger asserted that, ‘’ juvenile delinquency is like a cancer that is spreading and afflicting these beautiful Virgin Islands. The problem is urgent and needs to be arrested.’

NP politico gave a solid rendition of a root factor in the Virgin Islands juvenile delinquency dilemma. The blogger’s assertions concurred with this researcher’s findings.

The blogger stated that, “several decades ago, the BVI was organized and structured around villages. The village was the core and anchor. The village was engaged, and took responsibility for collectively raising the child. For example a villager could correct a misbehaving child and would have support of the parents. Today you do not even know your neighbours, and you dare not correct someone’s misbehaving pickney.’’ Indeed NP Politico!

The disappearance of the village has impacted Virgin Islands society in multiple ways. The increase in selfishness, dishonesty, criminal behavior, and the lack of concern for one’s neighbour is a manifestation of the new material order brought about by an economy that has migrated from the agrarian yesteryear to the present digital and technological order.

This new ‘modern culture’ has also been brought about by increased migration into the country due to the need for workers to man the contemporary tourism and financial services economy. Or foreign workers needed to simply replace Virgin Islanders that no longer work in certain jobs, Virgin Islanders that have scaled the social and economic ladder, climbing up the rungs, to man the various strata at the top of the financial services pyramid.

The close knit communities of yesteryear have been broken up, and have even been replaced by communities from other countries that have been transplanted on to Virgin Islands soil. Add to this a rapidly changing demographic brought about by both inward migration and intermarriage between various nationalities and Virgin Islanders.

The Virgin Islands village is swiftly disappearing owing to this new demographic! It is a demographic that has introduced foreign social and cultural norms. This is neither unusual nor uncommon. It is a demographic that springs from a migration pattern that is part of a wider West Indian migration model. It is a paradigm that has gone on from time immemorial. West Indians have been travelling away from their home islands to seek employment across the seas for decades, including Virgin Islanders: this pattern of migrant behaviour is nothing new.

To be continued

Dickson Igwe is a current affairs columnist, he is a scholar of strategy. Connect with Dickson Igwe on FACEBOOK and TWITTER. Email Dickson Igwe at dicksonresearch@gmail.com

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