by Nuri Muhammad

September 1999

Death by gang violence in Belize is on the rise again. After an extended period of reprieve from this type of criminal behavior, indications are that youths are once again forming themselves into criminal street organizations, with the resultant rise in youth crime and violence.

There is an urgent need to address this problem with innovative, proactive, intervention strategies aimed at the rehabilitation of these derailed youths back to meaningful and productive activities. Such strategies need to be inclusive in a wider and more comprehensive policy regarding youth development instead of only programs reacting to crisis.

Today, Belizeans are in awe about the escalating rate that bold, barefaced youths are perpetrating such assaults on our society. In less than a month, more than five brutal beatings, hacking or fatal shootings have been reported (September 1999).

This gang problem is symptomatic of a structural problem in our socio-economic system. When lives are lost because of a bicycle, CD player or tape recorder, it is a reflection of one of the challenges of poverty and thus it requires more than a one-dimensional program to realize sustainable results.

In fact, the gang lifestyle has become a sub-culture; there are questions of values, clarification and morality that also factor into the equation. Only a multi-pronged approach will be effective in addressing this problem. It took years for the problem to develop to this stage and it will likewise take a concerted effort over a sustained period to eradicate it.