Dear Editor,
“It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them,” wrote Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria. Yet Saint Lucia continues to approach crime as though punishment can compensate for decades of inadequate prevention. We debate policing, sentencing and incarceration while giving insufficient attention to the society producing the next generation of offenders.
How many more lives must be lost before prevention commands the urgency we reserve for punishment?
Crime has multiple causes, but the chasm between the “haves” and the “have-nots” cannot remain an uncomfortable footnote. Sociologist Robert Merton described the strain created when society glorifies material success without providing equitable access to legitimate means of achieving it. We teach people to aspire, surround them with conspicuous consumption, and then leave too many without a credible route to advancement.
Having a job does not necessarily resolve that contradiction. A person can be employed and still feel economically trapped. A wage may sustain existence without providing any realistic prospect of progress. Everybody in Saint Lucia is hustling, from the street cleaner to the doctor, some are fortunate to have legal hustles (cake decorating, air BnB etc.) as a second income) while others put their talents to less palatable endeavors.
None of this excuses criminality. It exposes the inadequacy of a response that begins only after a crime has been committed.
We need a long-term national development strategy in which crime prevention begins in childhood, becomes embedded in community life and continues through meaningful economic opportunity. That requires approaches bold enough to disturb our complacency.
It should be mandatory that every child should participate in a community service organisation—Scouts, Guides, EarlyAct or an equivalent programme – from as early as pre- school. Make participation an expectation, and provide the resources to make it possible. Children should grow up understanding that achievement includes responsibility to others. Let them restore public spaces, assist vulnerable residents and care for their environment. Civic pride must be cultivated through participation. We cannot neglect that cultivation and later lament the vandalism, littering and indifference around us.
Every child should also participate in structured sport again from as early as 5 years to 18. I mean sustained training, coaching and competition beyond school physical education. Such programmes can develop discipline, resilience, healthier habits and a sense of belonging.
What are we doing systematically to discover and develop the talent still waiting, to identify the next Juilen Alfred? The objective is to create a culture of physical health and discipline that hopefully would continue on to adulthood. Such a shift in our community would have a number of benefits; reduction on direct and indirect health costs, (including loss of productivity and years-of-life-lost to preventable diseases), providing an alternative route of employment for those gifted enough to perform even beyond Saint Lucia’s shores and instilling discipline. Structured and diligent training to the point where our youth are too invested and exhausted to engage in delinquent activities.
Give young people demanding pursuits, high expectations and something worth protecting. Their potential deserves more than occasional tournaments and ceremonial speeches.
We should seriously examine a voluntary national regiment offering disciplined service, practical qualifications and emergency response capacity. A Defense Force also merits substantive debate on its elevated security role, cost and national value. Our vulnerability to crime and disasters demands imagination. Familiarity should not be the principal criterion by which we judge an idea.
The same applies to education and employment. Why should government, SALCC and private enterprise not develop a functioning training hotel, using an existing property where feasible? Accounting students could work in finance; information technology students in digital systems; agriculture students in food production and landscaping; and construction and electrical students in maintenance. Note I purposely did not mention hospitality studies to underscore this is a holistic opportunity. With sound management and a credible business case, such an enterprise could provide paid experience across disciplines and potentially accommodate regional trainees.
With competent management and a sound business model, the property could generate revenue while that critical job experience new school-leavers lack, potentially even attracting regional trainees. We routinely demand work experience from young people. We should be equally demanding of ourselves in creating opportunities to acquire it.
Most critically, stop treating the number of jobs created as the final measure of progress. Where do those jobs lead? Can a school leaver become a skilled worker, a professional, an entrepreneur and an employer? Does employment provide a ladder, or merely a place to stand?
Some of the people we incarcerate possess sharp minds, resourcefulness and ambition. Those qualities have been put to destructive use. A serious development agenda must create compelling, legitimate avenues for ambition before criminal networks offer their own.
I recall Adrian Augier’s challenge, expressed in a 1461 Podcast interview, to envision Saint Lucia as the best 238 square miles in the world. We must move from the resigned “This is Saint Lucia” to the resolute “This is SAINT LUCIA.”
Government cannot carry this responsibility alone. Businesses, educators, families and civic organisations must commit resources and effort. Leadership must unite that commitment around a long-term plan, with deadlines, accountability and continuity beyond elections.
We have become too accustomed to managing national disappointment. Our children deserve a country organised to develop their potential. We need a long-term development plan, not just 5 years at a time, but out to 40 years, with short, medium and long-term goals.
Every budget expresses a choice. Every neglected opportunity carries a consequence. We can invest deliberately in the society we want, or continue paying—in fear, lost productivity and human lives—for the society we have failed to build.