00:00The comments were made by criminologist Akini Harry.
00:03Harry spoke during the Criminological Conversation seminar
00:07hosted by the Criminology and Criminal Justice Unit
00:10at the University of the West Indies on Thursday.
00:13Harry said a legitimate opportunity referred to any legal job
00:17but argued that the economic realities facing some young people
00:21made survival difficult.
00:23He said individuals entering the workforce without family support
00:27often faced issues with rent, food costs and other responsibilities
00:33all while earning a minimum wage.
00:35What happens most of the time is that, and I'm sorry to pray this way,
00:42there are many young people that prefer to take chances engaging in crime
00:50to try and make it as opposed to going and working at a gas station
00:55to make an honest dollar.
00:58Harry said legitimate opportunities were those that placed people
01:02in a position to improve their lives.
01:04He told the seminar that this reality was compounded for persons
01:08who would have been through the criminal justice system
01:11and are out on bail or had their matters completed.
01:14He said individuals leaving institutions such as the Youth Training
01:18and Rehabilitation Center, the Remand Yard, or the Port of Spain Prison,
01:22for example, faced hard challenges but still had to make a decision
01:27to pursue change.
01:29It's a decision that you have to make on an individual level.
01:32However, one has to be willing to put in the work
01:38to access opportunities.
01:41Harry cited the example of Nicholas Kahn, who spent 15 years in prison
01:46for murder and was released in 2023.
01:49Kahn spent 5,462 days incarcerated at the Golden Grove
01:54and the Port of Spain prisons for the 2017 murder of businessman Ricky Muhammad.
01:59Kahn was sentenced to 30 years in jail but only served half of this time
02:04because of his exemplary record, role model qualities,
02:08and academic pursuits in prison.
02:10Since he was released from jail, he has opened a business,
02:14become a cost-start advisor, and regularly lectures to secondary school students
02:19about the bad choices he made as a teenager
02:21and the 15 years he spent behind bars.
02:25Alexander Broussoual, TV6 News.
