00:00 Dr. Selandi is a sociologist at the University of the Western Days, St. Augustine.
00:07 His research interests include youth development, inequality, crime and sustainable development.
00:14 According to him, there are many inequalities in our society that contribute to the existing problem.
00:21 So you have a legacy based upon colonialism and domination by Europeans that have created a society
00:29 not based upon opportunities for people to experience self-actualization,
00:33 to go into our schools and get a holistic learning environment.
00:37 So there is a lot of hurt and a lot of trauma in communities and across the country,
00:43 especially where young people feel as if the society doesn't care about them.
00:48 And I think that there is validity in that feeling.
00:51 He says it is neither fair to paint an entire community with the same brush
00:56 or to judge others based on the success of some.
01:00 Anywhere you look in the world at places that have high crime rates, there is a lot of deep inequality.
01:07 And the mere fact that some persons may not go down that road
01:13 doesn't speak to the general experience of the majority of our people.
01:19 I think in many communities there is the minority of people who may be going along the criminal path.
01:27 But you have the stereotyping of the entire community.
01:31 Dr. Selandi believes that a quick fix approach will be useless
01:36 and says a long term, invested strategy is required.
01:40 My own estimation is that to deal properly with our situation of crime and violence,
01:46 you need a crime plan that is about 25 years long.
01:51 A long term crime solution program that is multi-pronged,
01:56 that draws upon a number of agencies and areas
02:01 to not just deal with the behavior of individuals,
02:05 but to radically transform the society to redistribute resources.
02:11 Dr. Selandi insists this country cannot continue with the same mechanisms if we truly want change.
02:18 Another major challenge in addressing crime is that
02:23 most of the government led initiatives will turn into some PR type campaign
02:30 where persons may say they want solutions, they may say they want to do something about crime,
02:36 but they don't want any perspectives that may make the government look bad.
02:41 Or saving the youth or solving crime may just be another opportunity for people to raid the treasury.
02:49 Nicole M Romany, TV6 News.
Comments