‘70 percent juvenile delinquents are of African descent’

Approximately 70 percent of youths who are kept in juvenile homes were of African descent, 13 percent, East Indian descent and 18 percent mixed.

These were some of the findings found in another report titled “Juvenile Homes — An Analytical Basis for Reform, Intervention and Rehabilitation,” produced by Deosaran and his team. He said a thorough review of the procedures and mechanisms for sending or accepting these youths into the various children’s homes should be immediately undertaken. “Whilst the law makes certain specifications for fitness, supervision or release of youths, there have evolved over the years, many grey areas which do not always redound to the welfare of the youths or to managerial efficiency of these homes,” he said. Based on another random survey, it was found that the responsibilities of the primary reference group, the family, have to be re-visited and seriously emphasised.

From the survey, it was found that 32 percent of  the youths in juvenile homes lived with their mother only (single-parent), 29 percent lived with a guardian, 24 percent lived with both parents, ten percent lived with a father only, three percent lived by themselves, two percent lived with friends or in orphanages. Over 50 percent of them reached to primary school only, 21 percent, junior secondary school, 11 percent senior comprehensive school only, with the rest dispersed across other institutions and less than two percent went to a convent or seven-year college. “While it is clear from the results that many of those at YTC, St Michael’s and St Jude’s have committed crimes of varying degrees of seriousness, urgent consideration should be given to the accompanying fact that these youths have come from relatively impoverished social and economic backgrounds,” he said.

Deosaran said there should also be a thorough review of all existing and counselling programmes in order to make them more relevant and rehabilitative. Additionally, there should be strong support for a system that regularly reviews the detention status of these youths, that constructs viable rewards for good behaviour, that helps ensure that on leaving the home there is an adequate residential and opportunity structure for these youths. “In other words, these youths should not leave these homes, especially YTC, to face a bleak, hostile social environment,” he said. Social workers needed in all schools

President of the National Parent Teachers Association (NPTA), Zeena Ramatali, has called for the hiring of social workers and guidance officers to be placed in every school across the country, in order to deal with the increasing school violence and juvenile delinquency problem. She said teachers need to be trained to deal with the situations of school violence which now arise. Ramatali wants to see a stronger relationship among parents, teachers and students, pointing out that there must be tolerance across the board. “The time has come everyone to come together and deal with the problem and stop blaming each other for the problems. The problem of school violence is clearly a reflection of society now,” she said.