Three approaches to solving crime in Guyana

Aug 08, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
In response to your editorial dated August 3, 2017 caption, “THE TWO SIDE OF CRIME” where you highlighted the situational crime prevention and tertiary crime prevention as one aspect of the two sided problem. As I stated previously in letters to you that there must be the three approaches to reduce crime. I have mentioned two above and the next one is what is referred to as “social crime prevention.” No government will be successful in reducing crime if the three crime prevention methods are not adopted together. This problem is not unique to Guyana but it’s a problem within the region.
I agree with you that Governments has approached crime prevention from a situational perspective not fully understanding or ignoring the other methods of crime prevention. Yes the youths see the police as defenders of the state and they of the opinion that the police are there to destroy them. That’s not the case the majority of the good men and women of the police force give good advice to those who are involved in crime. Peer pressure is a contributing factor however, many of the youths will tell you that they will not work eight hours a day and be paid forty US dollars. They tell you up front that they prefer to commit crime and be paid far more than that in less than eight hours.
Government can only do that much but what is critical in helping to reduce crime is social programs. Yes governments could initiate social programs but a crucial missing link is the business sector. The business sector can do more in reducing crime; for example they can institute more social programs within the society, they can employ more persons but you are aware businesses love to maximize their profits.
It is the social fabric of society that is being broken because we have seen the erosion of the extended family that was the bedrock of the family. The nuclear family has taken over and it cannot maintain that social cohesion that extended family had. From a crime prevention perspective it might be necessary to look at parenting as a tool to reduce crime I will leave this to the sociologist and criminologist to decide.
Morris Springer

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