Society must do more for youths in conflict with law- Chief Justice Pereira
Justice Pereira made the comments during a March 25, 2024, conversation with Acting Director of Communications, Ms Karia J. Christopher on whether she feels pressure to put stricter sentences on repeat offenders.
“When it comes I think to repeat offenders, sometimes we have to really stand back and really sort of try to go beneath. What are the root causes of why an offender may be returning to the court and invariably you may find broken homes, not sufficient support, not sufficient education, economic hardships.”
Justice Pereira added, “There are so many things that can really cause persons to return. For example, you may have persons who may have broken and entered, or stolen. They may do it over and over and they are in custody and each time they return they are in custody and they will do the same thing again,” she said.
The Chief Justice added that the question remains what has society done to help rehabilitate those persons? “We tend to stigmatise those persons, so there's difficulty in looking at getting another job or really finding employment.”
More should be done - Justice Pereira
She added, “So the next step is that they will be hopeless, they will return sometimes to what they know. And then you do have those crimes where they are simply just heinous, and you know that those persons you really have to protect society from,” she said.
The Chief Justice remarked that more should be done particularly as it relates to youths and children who find themselves in crime.
“Finding alternative means of steering them away from, you know, criminal activity or getting involved in groups with peer pressure which tend to simply escalate. There are times you do see where persons are escalating from perhaps a petty crime to something more and more."
“And you know, you try to really inquire as to why that is. Some of them again, have broken homes, no role models. All these things tend to impact people's lives,” she said.
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14 Responses to “Society must do more for youths in conflict with law- Chief Justice Pereira”
"Broken homes" is largely a euphemism for single mother led homes. Most of the troubled youth are boys being raised without their fathers at home.
The economic problems of married, two-parent families are less severe than those of single mothers. It's simple math: two incomes are better than one.
Otherwise, when sentence is served there is reincidence. It becomes a vicious circle. A serious look into teaching trades to these individuals should help them once out.
understanding what you saying but look at the big picture, the system in the bvi fail the youths. some trying to do a honest living but there are so many laws and red tape to go through just to get a licence to start any business.
we the older ones and the ones that have the ability to help them should reach out and do what is right for them.