Dear Editor,
I once heard a preacher admonish his listeners to “Stop shouting at the dark and go light a candle!” I was not in the audience but it was as if he spoke directly to me.
Editor, for the last 7 years (that was as far back as I have been keeping records), every day, at least one of the daily newspapers in Guyana carried a story that was crime related. Most of those articles either revealed a criminal act, or they related a criminal act or they simply commented on such acts. However, it is very rare that suggestions are made on how to eliminate or reduce such criminal behaviour. And this dearth of solutions is understandable.
Many of the persons commenting or reporting on the issue of crime do not have the requisite know-how to deal with the subject matter and those in the law enforcement fields are not permitted to freely comment on such matters.
So what we have is a populace that is frustrated to their wits end, for there is hardly anything that they could do and those who are hired to do something seem just as clueless as they. I would like to say to the most frustrated amongst us, “Take heart”. I believe that this new administration needs a little more time to get their act together. Prior to May 11, 2015, the focus was only on the escalating street (blue collar) crimes. The white collar (office) crimes went completely ignored and for obvious reasons.
This current administration seems willing to go after both street crimes and office crimes. If the last administration with 23 years of expertise, struggled so badly to control only the one kind of crime, then the enormity of the undertaking that the Granger-lead administration faces is understandable.
What further makes the crime problem appear insurmountable, for both the previous and the current administrations, is the fact that Guyana does not have a post-release rehabilitation programme. There are many ex-offenders in Guyana who would benefit from a formal transitional programme, which would aid with alleviating their criminogenic needs.
It is reported that higher than 60% of all crimes committed in Guyana are perpetrated by career criminals. It is also a fact that more than half of the prison population is made up of repeat offenders. Through my work with the offender population I am informed that the majority of new criminals practise behaviours learnt from seasoned criminals.
This would suggest that a great number of persons creating the crime headache for the country are those being drawn from the same saturated pool of criminals. Our prison is a revolving door and those who are new to the prison system, are being trained by those who were there before.
So what we are faced with might not be firstly a crime problem. What the statistics are suggesting is that our real nemesis is that of rehabilitation. It is our repeat offenders who are training the young criminal as recruits, providing them with the weaponry, then sending them out, or otherwise teaming up with them on these crime sprees.
The government should therefore add to its crime-fighting arsenal, the aspect of a post-release rehabilitation programme, for those formerly incarcerated. I am thinking that if we could find ways of reducing the factors which cause the ex-offenders to re-offend (or train others to offend), we might be up to something.
Every day ex-offenders and career criminals are being released from our prisons. What are they expected to do now that they have been designated ‘criminals’? Some will try to move on with their lives and become law abiding citizens. Sadly, however, the statistics show that over 60% re-engage in criminal behaviours.
In the developed countries programmes are designed to connect with these ex-offenders and formally engage them. They are provided with temporary/transitional housing, academic and vocational training, drug rehabilitation and spiritual formation. These rehabilitated ex-offenders are then used as mentors and ‘big-brothers’ to wannabe gangsters.
The immediate and long-term effects of this best practice approach, is that you reduce the rate of those returning to prison and you also mitigate the recruitment of new criminals. The resultant effect is that your crime problem subsides.
This proven approach to crime reduction is yet to be tried here in Guyana and when it is implemented, the statistics will show that the crime situation would abate and the programme will take on a life of its own.
Editor, I’m only trying to light a candle.
Yours faithfully,
Pastor W P Jeffrey
