BOYS ON THE BLOCK SEEK RESPECT IN STRANGE PLACES
While Barbados according to the latest survey has a low murder rate, a researcher has sought to examine what leads to pulling the trigger or grabbing that blade…
Senior Research Officer with the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit (CJRPU), Kim Ramsay, told clergy, teachers and other stakeholders at Almond Bay that many of the incidents which have Barbadians concerned is simply a misguided quest to earn respect. What programmes are needed to show how to replace those values will take time and constant reinforcement;-
She said community programmes showing alternative dispute resolution and how to be an entrepreneur should be spread out and implemented from as young as possibly can be designed. If the workshops are to be effective, then they must be taught by the former boys on the block if it is to be accepted and seen as valid;-
Actually visiting street corners and even going into HMP Dodds and interviewing inmates, she asked would-be and former perpetrators why take such huge risks;-
Statistics from the 2010 to 2014 study revealed that 42 per cent of all murders were committed with a gun; 29 per cent with knives; seven per cent through the use of a blunt object; and five per cent by arson.
In addition, four per cent of murders were caused by strangulation; three per cent by the use of a cutlass; two per cent by beatings; and another two per cent through unknown methods.
