As part of a new initiative to cement its place as a major contributor to the community, the BVI Bar Association is preparing to host a Town Hall meeting today to discuss the increasing involvement of youth in criminal activities.

President of the Bar, Tana’ania Small-Davis told the StandPoint that Bar wants to become visible participants in the society at large not just lawyers doing work for clients and getting paid.

“One thing that came first and foremost to my mind is the high incidence of youth being charged with criminal offences so much so that there has been the establishment of a youth court which has too many names on the list as far as I am concerned,” said Small-Davis.

The forum will begin at 5:30 pm and will be held at the High Court of Justice upstairs of the House of Assembly. Speakers will include, Assistant Principal for Discipline of the Elmore Stoutt High School, Arthur Selwood; Rev. Melvin Turnbull, Early Childhood Education Officer, Cecily Malone; Stacey Mather of the Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP).

“We wanted to assemble the major players to have a look to see what’s happening in our society that is giving rise to so many incidence of violence with our youth.,” Small-Davis explained.

She noted that the breakdown in youth behaviour stems from indiscipline.

“We also thought it was a good opportunity to give the Law Reform Commission to expose the drafts that are being made for the regulation for childhood education, especially early childhood education here and one of the things that it really focuses on is discipline and I think that it must be natural that the break down of discipline is what has led to the incidence of violence,” added Small-Davis.

She added that the response from the public has been good and that the Bar is grateful for the participation of everyone in the meeting.

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