radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
As T&T has crossed the 200 murder mark in less than five months, the Co-ordinator of the Criminology Unit at the University of the West Indies, Dr Randy Seepersad, says this country is poised to record the highest rates of homicide in recent history.
Speaking to Guardian Media yesterday, Dr Seepersad said T&T is facing a parental crisis, noting if social intervention is not rolled out now there could be a generation lost to crime.
Dr Seepersad, who specialises in research methodology and statistics and has a research interest in economic deprivation and crime, gang violence and youth crime, said he was not surprised by the soaring murder rate.
“If you extrapolate those numbers for the entire year it would work up to 557 murders, which would put us ahead of the highest record, which is 547 murders in 2008,” Seepersad said.
He explained that the economic hardship which resulted from the pandemic, coupled with job losses, have contributed to the murder spike.
“Unless we find ways to stimulate the economy, things will be far worse than they already are,” Seepersad said.
Asked whether the departure of former Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith had contributed to the crime spike, Seepersad said it is too early to judge the performance of the current commissioner.
He said statistical trends show that whenever there is a lockdown or state of emergency, this triggers increased domestic violence and sexual crimes.
Seepersad said the only way to reverse the crime trend is to provide more economic opportunities and social intervention programmes.
“We face a crisis in parenting. When we look at crime levels alone, we know something is going wrong and the fact is we are not doing anything about it,” he said.
He added, “Parenting is one of the most important jobs there is but parents do it by guess, trial and error. We can do something at a national level to educate youths and parents so they have an idea about cognitive development, social development and emotional development, so they can raise children who have a higher likelihood of engaging in social behaviours rather than engaging in criminal behaviours.”
Criminologist Dr Randy Seepersad
He said he has been speaking with former Children’s Authority chairman Hanif Benjamin in the hope of creating an NGO to help the public who are victims of crime.
“But even when people want to put these services in place, it’s a struggle because they can’t get government subvention. We have to realise that until we deal with the social aspects of crime preventio,n we will not make progress in the crime fight,” Seepersad said.
He said youth account for 1.5 per cent of violent crime.
“I wouldn’t say we have a lost generation. The data suggest we need decisive action now where youths are concerned because if we don’t act now, we could end up having a lost generation. We will reach a point of no return. As a nation and government, we have to take action. It is no longer a case of doing whatever is necessary to win the next election.”
Seepersad also said while domestic violence laws exist there should be an improvement in the enforcement of the laws.
“The problem isn’t with the Domestic Violence Act or protection orders. The problem is the enforcement of those orders. The laws are there but provisions are not enforced. Part of this problem is social. Domestic violence is a taboo subject. Spouses go through years of abuse and the family and police don’t want to intervene,” Seepersad said.
He said there must be public awareness and law enforcement, as well as social intervention.
Retired Major of the Defence Force and Air Support Tactical Security and 868 Tactical CEO, Dirk Barnes, meanwhile said a new plan is needed to deal with the crime spike. He said the previous commissioner of police Gary Griffith had a plan which was working.
“We need to recognise that there should be innovative strategies, new technology and holding people accountable for crime,” he said.
Also addressing the issue, International Women’s Resource Network president Adriana Sandrine Isaac-Rattan said there is an urgent need for men’s organisations to come forward and help men.
Commenting on the troubling crime statistics, Isaac-Rattan said: “We need to have all hands on deck, state, civil society and other interest groups, who can come together and identify the critical challenges affecting communities. Unemployment is a key issue. We need the police to be part of this conversation.”
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