Martin Anthony, a consultant with the Ministry of Family and Gender Affairs, commends the government for the ongoing workshop on restorative juvenile justice. The program is a case management and capacity building event for personnel involved with juvenile offenders. It was put together by the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Family and Gender Affairs, and the CARICOM Secretariat.
The training modules cover principles and standards to apply when dealing with juvenile offenders, how to mediate in bringing them to order, restorative justice philosophy, as well as crime prevention among youths in Dominica.
Anthony revealed youths and adults are naturally prone to anti-social behaviour, but that the government must put systems in place to discourage crimes in the society. Based on this, the consultant questions whether the government has been doing enough to prevent juvenile delinquencies and youth violence, and turn them to more constructive engagements.
He noted that the workshop was set up to address the challenges of youth crimes, saying it will serve to deter criminality among the citizenry as well as train security personnel on dealing with juvenile offenders. He also made it clear that many laws regarding juvenile crimes are outdated and will be sorted out at the ongoing workshop.
According to Anthony, the government has achieved giant strides in “juvenile justice reform program in the area of family law and the many bills that have been enacted. One of the response I would say is the area of intervention strategies.”
He clarified that immediate response is necessary for the intervention strategies needed to save minors accused of crimes from going to regular courts. He said as soon as a child is accused of a crime, the probation service must intervene immediately and consultations must take place in the office of the director for public prosecution.
“The bill makes provision for an initial inquiry when the court would determine if that child actually committed that crime or owned up to it,” the consultant stated. “If that happens, the matter is diverted and does not go to court, so the bill is very interesting and innovative; and I think it’s an appropriate response. The spirit of the bill is to see how we can divert young persons who allegedly commit a crime from being tried in a formal court setting.”
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