July 2, 2010 11:33 am
Yesterday, one of the people who work in the Corporation, Rosalind, posed a question to the rest of the employees in works. She asked, what is a potential solution to immediately curb the crime levels in Trinidad and Tobago. The answer, hang them. Of course, as a person who is extremely anti- capital punishment, I was appalled. But to my dismay, my usual arguments against the murdering of ex offenders did not apply here. Hanging is not as expensive as other methods of execution used in America, so I couldn’t pull the “it’s cheaper to keep them than kill them” argument. They also feel that with such low conviction rates, the convictions carried out are just- they do not believe there is a race issue in their criminal justice system. And with such low conviction, how can one even begin talking about recidivism hardening criminals. Stumped I began asking about the cause of crime her. Though this is the lay perception, it calls for a deeper look into the cause. They maintain that poverty is not a major issue. (Though Trinidad is a supposed 3rd world country, I believe that it is relative poverty that leads to crime and so I am not sure whether or not it really is an issue). Also, Trinidad has universal education. SO questions arising are: Is there high relative poverty? And just because there are high educational opportunities does not mean there is high attainment, so what are the attainment levels? I also want to know how race affects criminal justice in Trinidad.
Who gets to tell their own stories? Who holds the privilege of writing themselves? This blog began as a way for me to collect my thoughts and vent my anger, now it is a way for me to collect myself and present that collection to others.
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