Dwayne Fagan, Contributor
THE RECENT stabbing of a teacher by a teenaged student at Excelsior High School is just one of the many criminal acts being committed by juveniles these days. Many concerned citizens have been asking: What is it that can be done to quell the potentially dangerous situation?
Some persons suggest an increase in the severity of juvenile punishment, such as making more use of juvenile detention centres (Kiddies Jails), but, does this method really work? When Fi-Real spoke with Director Ebanks (director of Jamaica's juvenile detention centres), he stated that these centres do work.
According to him, many of the youngsters who have been presenting problems in communities have been taken in. At the centres they are reformed, exposed to trade areas and are placed in schools. The reform rate is between 60 and 70 percent. They are supervised until age 18 by their Probation Officers.
Judging by his response, the centres do work, but what is needed in this situation is not only the option of incarceration, but also an increase in the quality of home life given on these delinquents. The parents, guardians and the government need to provide a loving and nurturing environment in the home and outside the home so as not to allow these children to come out as delinquents in the first place.
Dwayne Fagan is a student of Kingston College and one of several teenagers whose opinions will appear in this spot each week. email us at feedback@gleanerja.com.
