The psychology behind pardoning some criminals

Dec 29, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
President Granger, on December 23, 2017, pardoned a few prisoners. And if I had to criticize our President for anything, it would be for him not granting more pardons. I understand that some would cry that criminals are being released, but have they examined the “why” of the “crimes” of these young people?
Do not get me wrong; the criminals who murder our elderly, ravage and kill our children must without respite bear the brunt of the law that includes capital punishment. However, there are young people who have been led astray because they were never taught morality.
Every incarcerated youth is a reflection of our failure to teach them what is right. Each of their lives is a loss that Guyana will never redeem. One should examine the difficulties faced by the young. They are steeped in the visuals of bling and sex (materialism and carnality) via the ubiquitous entertainment industry.
Gone are the days when youths read books, comic books and watched movies that depict the pathos of making sacrifice to do what is right and the negative consequences of following one’s desires. I try to depict this in my poem from The Hinterlands:
The Deportee
Barefooted boys gaze at his
so white and so new tee shirt
with the lizard-cool Snoop Dog.
Yes, he is from Stateside with first-
hand knowledge of Jay Z
and the poetry of Tupac.
When a dreadlock escapes
the on-backward Kangol,
he touches it with gold-
ringed fingers and adjusts
the gold cross as he explains
Shaq’s jealousy of Kobe.
His Phat pants’ tucked
into untied Timberlands.
Pulled from the trench
and stretched on the dam,
the soggy track-suit
makes him a bed of mud.
Above his head, hands,
gray and wrinkled as if
wrapped in wet Band-Aids,
are caught by his dreadlocks,
Rolex and AK 47 on its sling.
Bulging all-white eyes stare
at the sun. A snail clings
to a lobe and feculent scum
oozes from the gaping mouth.
People, hands masking them,
stare at the carrion that robbed,
terrorized and carri’ on.
Finally, someone breaks the silence:
But he wearin’ some really nice boots.
At the end of the poem, instead of the people noting the thief dying as a consequence of the debauched life he chose, his “expensive boots” are noted. The young are being indoctrinated in the deportee’s philosophy, so I cannot fault young people for going astray.
They learn from what they see. And they see some of our self-serving politicians, who should be the standard bearers of honesty and justice, mushy in their pride, gluttony, avarice and over-indulgence. Having failed our young people who went astray through our neglect, indifferent governance and weak education, don’t we owe them a chance, after their punishment and lesson learned, at a life that will better them and our country?
Sincerely,
Stanley Niamatali

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