Gangs and violence are emboldening youths

Dec 12, 2015 Editorial, Features / Columnists

In Guyana, there is no end in sight to violence and armed robberies. It seems likely that they will continue into the Christmas season and beyond, despite the launching of “Operation Dragnet” which includes joint patrols of the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Fire Service and the Guyana Prison Service.
However, it is not clear what will be the role of the latter two forces other than being symbolic since they are not trained to arrest criminals. Back in 2002 the police had little or no choice than to authorize the army to conduct joint patrols with the police in order to halt the rise in criminal activity.
Today, the increased police patrols are back but there are no soldiers. And the successes by the police are boosting civilian confidence.
The army has been deployed to protect the borders, especially at this time of terror alerts around the world. President David Granger dismissed a suggestion by former President Donald Ramotar to deploy ranks from the army to assist the police in their fight against crime. President Granger feels that the police are adequate.
No one has ever said that dealing with violence and criminal acts such as murders and armed robberies is easy, but the government continues to underscore the need to address the source of the problem. It has to look beyond the surface in order to find the underlying reasons that are motivating the youths to turn to crime.
Studies have shown that indulging in violent and criminal behaviour is a way for some youths to express their feelings of anger and frustrations, their sense of hopelessness and despair and other negative emotions.
The government must confront this reality and provide help to the youths if it is serious about changing their criminal way of life. Putting youths in jail is a waste of time; it will not solve crime. Most of the youths who are involved in crimes lack emotional security and may have been abused physically, verbally, or even sexually by people, especially family members who they have trusted and who should be protecting them.
They often have no one they feel they can trust to talk to and when their anger reaches boiling point they explode violently against anyone without fear of the consequences.
From a tender age some of the youths are forced to lead very lonely lives, very often getting to the point where they do not care and having become almost immune to emotional and even physical pain. Many of them have accepted their fate in life as one that has no meaningful future. They are frustrated and disappointed with the system.
In seeking emotional support many of them have become prey to the criminals who normally take advantage of them. Social acceptance in gangs for many youths is recognition. They become immersed in a culture where violent behaviour is further reinforced with the feeling of empowerment, since they see crime as a way of exacting revenge on a system and society that have cheated them of a future.
They have also been brainwashed into believing that crime pays and is a viable pathway to success and upward social mobility in society. Gang activity has unfortunately become the norm in many of the nation’s communities in both the rural and urban centres.
It is not at all uncommon to uncover people as young as fifteen years old walking with knives, guns and other weapons.
Some are prepared to settle disputes or even commit crimes with this new-found violent power. They reject all forms of authority and are not afraid to express this rejection in violent terms against those who they feel were part of the process of their marginalization. Small wonder that the criminals seem to be younger.
And this is what the government must confront, what it must seek to reverse.

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