LISTENING to the news every day, we hear about many young people being involved and committing crimes. According to a police spokesperson, the police have it under control. However, because it is being reported almost daily on national television, many people think that crimes committed by young people are on the increase.
While it is important for people to know what is happening in their country, it is equally important to evaluate how this news is being decimated over the airwaves and the impact it is having on society. Furthermore a profound look at the reasons why more young people are into crimes must be made a priority. There are two main factors that may be causing that; sociological and psychological factors.
Sociological factors: In the past, poverty and a lack of extra-curricular activities were associated with young people and crimes. But today most youths are involved in many social activities. They have more access to alcohol, drugs, and many have late night activities giving them the opportunity to be influenced by friends and to get involved in committing crimes. There is also some evidence that youths have been influenced by the violence they see in our culture and in the media.
Today's youths are also living in a period of rapid change, disorganization and unrest. Values which were commonly accepted are now questioned and the family that once offered security and protection may now exert an upsetting influence.
Psychological factors: Broken homes can contribute as young people and the relation with parents play an important role. Since we are living in a world with increasing family problems this might be contributing in the increase in youth crimes.
The problem in Seychelles may be more linked to young people who do not have or see any meaningful importance in education and a lack of role models. They mostly drop out of school at an early age and end up on the street hence committing crimes to survive. But with the drinking and drug culture, the result is aggravated as many of them will only commit crimes to feed their habit.
With parents now having to work at two or more jobs at the same time to make ends meet, there is little or no supervision after school - leaving young people free to engage in anti-social activities.
Furthermore, there is no proper reform school or correctional centre that young people who cannot cope in normal schools can go to in order to try and get them to change their behaviour and attitude.
All in all, in Seychelles we are faced with too many obstacles already to be able to redress the current trend. Arresting and charging these young people committing crimes is hardly making an impact as many more are still willing to go into crimes in spite of the risk of being arrested and convicted. The problem may be with the sentencing which for many seems to be hardly a deterrent for the offenders when compared to those arrested for drug trafficking which is equally destroying the stability of our country.
Many issues need to be addressed in order to tackle the problem of young people and crimes. Maybe now with the setting up of family district council, family problems and concerns will be looked at more deeply and more attention will be put on prevention rather than cure.
This means looking at young people who may be predisposed to get into trouble. It means focusing on family life, relationships and assisting parents in learning more parental skills. It may mean putting anti-social youths in places where their behaviour is monitored and influenced positively. It may mean targeting young children in preschool settings before problems arise and assisting older children with learning difficulties before their behaviour becomes problematic and eventually turns into crimes.