By Dr Oswald R Thomas

I was somewhat perplexed while reading the Antigua Daily Observer front page caption (December 3, 2009) “Teen Jailed on Gun, Ammo Charges.” The article indicated that the teen’s name was withheld because he was a juvenile. Yet the withholding of his name did not relax the punishment. The teen will be behind bars for the next 14 months.

Dr Oswald R Thomas

After pondering this matter profoundly, more questions emerged than I was able to find answers for. Where would a 17-year-old get hold of an unlicensed .380 Glock gun and nine rounds of ammunition? The article did not say that the gun was stolen or used in the commission of a crime. Did law enforcement question the teen on how he came by the gun and ammunition? If yes, did additional intelligence yield the source of the gun? Who else will be charged with making this gun available to the teen? We are all assured that guns and bullets do not just drop from the sky like manna.

I am also very concerned about our prison system and, from all accounts, 1735, Antigua and Barbuda’s lone penal institution, is not a place of rehabilitation for adults. It is certainly not an environment of second chances for a young man or woman, still ripe for exemplary coaching, and still pregnant with so many possibilities for good. As it is set up, it is very likely that prison could become a revolving door for this nameless teen. While I agree with the Chief Magistrate “that law abiding citizens are outraged at the crimes being committed with guns and the proliferation of unlicensed guns” and the need to send a strong message to criminals, I view the sentencing of a juvenile to serve hard time, as a psychological defeat for the nation’s youth.

The very image of this teen in prison highlights all that’s wrong with our justice system. While the Chief Magistrate said that he was not inclined to place the teen offender on probation, which is the other option open to him by law, I am convinced that had the laws gave magistrates and judges more latitude to offer alternative sentencing, they would go for it. A penal system that is guided by the transformation of young people’s lives should balance punishment with opportunities to make amends.

Options include: court mandating youth offenders to programs, counseling, psychotherapy, working alongside with the Central Board of Health and other activities that offer youth redemptive opportunities to return to mainstream society. Is it time for Antigua and Barbuda to establish a Family Court to address the problems our adolescence and families face? The time is now for our parliament to review our laws as they pertain to our children and give magistrates and judges more room to offer rehabilitative options other than jail time.

Some two to three years ago, the government went to parliament and approved a national youth policy to uplift, improve and create programs that will benefit our youth. To date our government has failed to allocate funding for the implementation of our national youth policy. Our youth and community divisions has not planned nor implemented any national program that effect and/or affect the nation’s youth.

Apparently, our youth and community affairs officers are not available after school and evenings for the nation’s youth. This is the time when the young need life enhancing supervision most acutely. It is an established fact that more than 80% of Antigua and Barbuda’s children and teens are latchkey children. I am also calling on the churches and other social groups to institutionalize programs that are designed to save the nation’s leaders of today and tomorrow.

This young man and others like him might have rebelled against the system as a cry for help rather than as a sign that they are merely criminally minded. Perhaps it could be said that they did not fail the system; it is the system that fails them. The Ministry of Education must also do right by the nation’s children and teens. It must develop a philosophy of not just educating the mind but giving birth to a destiny. Without delay, appoint school counselors and offer extended day programs for those children and teens that are at-risk for hopelessness, homelessness, AIDS/HIV, and other delinquency behaviours. It is very easy to point out at-risk youngsters who are likely to end up in the juvenile justice system; however, with positive intervention, many can transcend that fate. I am not suggesting that the government should abandon its moral obligation to squelch crime; I am instead saying that it should do so, with rehabilitative emphasis, especially with our children and teens.

The nation’s next prime minister, next hospital administrator, next school principal, next GG, next bishop, next scientist and next world famous author, may be waiting to be plucked from the jaws of 1735. Unless we are willing to adjust our laws for effective change, countless teens will be buried in the penal system without a shred of hope. We should feel a strong commitment not to neglect our teens too quickly. Our young people’s future is worth protecting. Who will save them?

Oswald R Thomas is a Certified and Registered Clinical Hypnotherapist/Psychotherapist with the American Board of Hypnotherapy, the International Association of Counselors and Therapists, and the International Board of Medical and Dental Association. He is founder of the Thomas Center Human Development, Inc. and serves on Community Board #5 in the Bronx, and the Bronx Neighborhood Planning Committee as Chair of the Youth Committee. With a Ph.D. in Psychology, a Master’s in Public Administration, and a Bachelor’s of Professional Studies in Human Services, Dr. Thomas is a counseling therapist/Behaviorist, and Professor at Metropolitan College of New York. Email: tcfldrthomas@gmail.com