Prime Dr Ralph Gonsalves said the causes of crime are many and his government has been tuff on crime and the causes of crime.
He said that a community college education and university education are anti-crime measures.
“Poverty reduction is a crime reduction measure, altering the law to narrow the space for persons charged with criminal offences, are all part of anti-crime measures”.
Gonsalves was on Boom FM Monday 17th September 2018.
When asked if these measures are working, Gonsalves told Dwight Joseph yes, they are.
“I want to say the thesis is false that poverty and economic deprivation is causing crime, a person may be poor but that does not mean that you must have an impulse to go and rob someone, the number of persons involved in criminal activity is relatively small compare to the vast majority of law-abiding people”.
On the issue of young people’s involvement in crime Gonsalves said historically in SVG and across the world, young males between 16 -35 are the ones who commit the most crimes.
And these young males are who according to research have come from dysfunctional families, the Prime Minister said.
“But it does not mean that all young males have a proclivity to crime, all am saying is that such the observation, it does not mean that all will”.
When asked if he would come together with the opposition to deal with the issue of crime Gonsalves told radio host Dwight Joseph, No.
“An opposition which addresses crime in an opportunistic way, how could you have a commonality with that, I had a discussion with the former leader of the opposition, on a matter of national security, and I said this is being given to you in secrecy and then he left and went to Nice Radio and discuss the matter on air”.
Gonsalves said he does not have the trust of the current Opposition, not even to deal with the matter of crime.
“He is opportunistic about it and he is suggesting, and making statements that are plain wrong, you call them extreme, I call them erroneous to the 10th degree, you think criminals asking who is ULP and NDP, there are some criminals who will rob from their mother”.
Gonsalves said all society has had a problem with crime since the existence of mankind, the question he said is if it is tolerable within all reasonable bounds and what are the mechanisms you have in place to deal with it.
