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Bailey Sisters                                                                                   photo credit: Barbados Today

We now seem to be concerned that our young women are active participants in dangerous criminal activity. Societies do not become submerged in deviant behavior over night, this so called new phenomenon,

has once more proven that […]everybody seems to be asleep at the wheel. Modern sociologists instruct us that deviancy is not the preserve of any one race, gender or class. However where a race or class is constantly down pressed, it tends to look outside of traditional approaches to problem solving and income. In other words if guns and drugs have become normal activity within the sub culture, it is obvious that it will attract both males and females.

In capitalist societies, it is normal to allow poverty to grow and then accuse the most poverty stricken as lazy, indifferent and don’t care-ish. We then hear cries for the church and communities to become involved and question the rights of economically challenged women to have children. The more fanatical disciplinarians express the need for barbarism such as the dreaded cat of nine tails, public floggings and death sentences. While some criminal psychologists might argue that some criminals, are born with genetic traits that lead to anti-social and deviant behaviors, this cannot be seriously the case or misfortune of any high percentage of our criminals.

There are some amongst us who cannot understand that the days of the petty village criminal are long gone. They are gone because the village communities have all but disappeared. We are therefore bemoaning the fact that these islands are no longer as safe as they were a half century ago. What we are failing to seriously recognize is that there is no demographic under age thirty five, which even existed when we were communities of villages.

It is a known fact that both girls and boys are using drugs and belong to gangs. Once certain trends become normal or popular within the society, they are very difficult to curtail especially when the resources to counter them are limited. Increase criminal activity was noticeable at least three decades ago and the response needed to combat the emerging trends was simply not a high priority.

It follows rationally, that younger generations of women, would find themselves in both positive and negative circumstance and activity. As harsh as it sounds, development does not only produce teachers, police, doctors and lawyers; it also brings or induces some citizens to pursue criminal careers! It was naive to believe that an upsurge in criminal activity would not include more females, than it did thirty years ago.

38 responses to “Crime and Girls”


  1. I am quite sure that the criminologist can bark off the correlated facts and factors associated with this new emerging criminality amongst Barbadian women today. And whethere nature or nurture are both at fault, we can only speculate that in some small unseen way Nature has had a hand in this antisocial behavioural development, but the empirical evidence does confirmed the fact that one’s (Nurture) social-environment does play a significant part in the development of the criminal-psyche; the evidence is there to support this finding.

    So it is there we must focus our inquiry if we are willing to understand and ascertain the causal factors associated with this new wave of criminal activity amongst the female gender in Barbados.

    Your article fell short of referencing in a little more detail what the data tells us regarding the nature of the crimes associated female criminality in Barbados, and whether such criminal activity is limited to domestic affairs alone, or does it branches out to more serious criminal activity amongst the female species in Barbados?


  2. Just a quick point: you have employed for your title: crime and young girls, but I have noticed that throughout your essay you have made references to the term young females. So my question to you is this: which of these age groups are you focusing your article on? As you well know chronologically, speaking a young adult by society’s accounted is someone between the ages of 18 to 35. And an adolescent is considered someone between the ages of 10 to 17 so therefore, which of these age groups are you focusing on or are you focusing on all of them with respect to criminality amongst the Barbadian female?


  3. Where is Richard Ross? The brother has made a worthwhile contribution to the BU blog with his legal input. So I hope that he hasn’t embarked upon the journey to the highway to the Great-Beyond, where consciousness becomes at one with the universe?


  4. That’s what I’ve been saying for more than two decades. And it’s only going to get worse because nobody wants to tackle the issues. There are some who just love being criminals and there are some who will become criminals in depressed and oppressive circumstances. Those of us who believe that nothing could induce us to become criminals will never understand unless we open our tightly closed minds. As long as we fight it the violent crime will continue to terrify us. It is in our own best interest to listen to persons who have interacted with criminals and understand what has made some of them. One only has to look as far as the situation in the USA among blacks and the crime statistics coming out of South Africa to understand that violent crime is always highest in depressed areas among disenfranchised people. We must open our eyes and our mind to these facts. Or we could continue with our preconceived notions judging them by our own standards. Some people are just not as emotionally intelligent or strong as we are. We have to deal with it. Or we can bury our heads in the sand and become sitting ostriches.


  5. Agree with you Donna, if we continue on the current crime will escalate. We need to see more NGOs coming out and promoting community service initiatives, why should it be left to the politicians and police. We are all stakeholders!

    Imagine Tapas being robbed on Hastings Road, one of the busiest on the South Coast. The boldness of these criminal minds should tell us something.

    On 28 August 2015 at 10:17, Barbados Underground wrote:

    >

  6. de Ingrunt Word Avatar

    David, as much as I accept and recognize that there is a spike currently in the crime situation in lovely BIM I am unable to get any more depressed now than I was for several years…as much as those thirty to which Donna refers.

    I suggest to you that what is manifest with these burglaries, day light armed robberies in high traffic areas and seemingly callous shootings and murder is nothing specific to the youth and surely not to the last few years.

    As you allude to we are all stakeholders in this fight and it to our dying shame that we see our leaders in society being complicit in leading this slide to criminality. We must accept that their levels of dishonesty are fundamentally part of the same ‘gene’ strain that drives the criminals who robbed Tapas.

    Its very simple, as has been chronicled on BU repeatedly- sans all the experts’ psycho babble: We now have grown exponentially a disturbing ‘me first, dishonest’ mentality that permeates from the highest classes in our society.

    The lower classes manifest their crimes as Tapas, masked robberies at ScotiaBank Black Rock (several when they were there), drug related killings, rape, stabbings and more.

    The upper class are more sophisticated and behind the scenes normally but their acts are just as criminal.

    To include some of that psycho babble I disdained earlier: Who is the worst sociopathic ingrate? Those guys who robbed Tapas because they want some money and feel that well-to-do the owners/folks at the restaurant owe them their livelihood?

    Or is it the well educated, working corporate or political leader who greedily determines I want more and thus conspires to overcharge, accept bribes to do sub-standard or ‘illegal’ work or simply pads a government contract with millions which he siphons off to a foreign bank?.

    Frankly, if we get a few Dons to control their segments of the island we might see a period of absolute calm…you know like in the US of the mafia Dons where control was agreed between rival factions. So then the low level crimes would be operating in a sophisticated, behind the scenes way. No great publicity like now.

    Ha, ha..a bad joke you say, but is that not what many in the upper class do now??

    This mess will continue with these spikes and valleys until we here take our final breaths because there is absolutely no belief that a change of attitude at the top is likely. And nothing will change at the bottom regardless of the excellent work from NGOs and others before that change at the top takes root. Who is working to change them!


  7. It is with amazement that many folks see crime only in terms of murder or those who rob.
    What about those who lost all their pension plans and insurance in the infamous insurance company. Crime cannot be seen in isolation. Until the criminals who can operate in this manner get time in jail. Nothing will change. The young people in this country can see and (it does not take a rocket scientist to see) there are certain people who do crime and get away with it.


  8. Poverty. Unemployment. Hopelessness are the biggest catalysts to crime and violence.

    Someone said “a hungry person is an angry person”.

    Until there is a more equitable distribution of wealth in Barbados, crime and violence will increase.

    Of course there is always the possibility of a Police / Army crackdown that could be a short term solution.


  9. @Dee Word

    It is sad what is happening. We need to embrace a value system to sustain a wholesome society. We are meandering along, going with the flow.


  10. David wrote ” a value system to sustain a wholesome society.”

    I do not know of any group of human beings who can lead 280,000 people to create a “wholesome society.”

    The best you can hope for is that the killings and the proliferation of guns and drugs will frighten the politicians and moneyed class into action.

    As I have said over and over again.

    Tinted windows air conditioned vehicles with soft suspension. Guard walls, dogs and security systems.

    I doan have to read an spell fuh wunna.


  11. I was brought up with the understanding that when you do good, good will attend you. In all honesty I cannot sit and pass any judgement on whatever these younger people chose to do with their lives at this time. But this I can say, and will say. You have equal violence all around. Check this out. You have the ones who site around with pens and paper, and robbing others. But the younger generation, or any others for that matter who don’t have the pen and paper, and the positions to rob others, will choose the way they know how to provide for themselves and others who look to them for help. CRIME IS CRIME whichever way it happens, and by whomever does it. Those in power who needs to set examples, aren’t doing much of anything in helping the situation. At this point I honestly don’t think that the younger generation wants to hear much of anything less that EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES for them. The sad part about it all, is that Barbados provides education for the young people. But having an education, and no jobs, or no way of seeing a way to finance one’s needs will lead to crime, which will eventually lead to violence. Most are sick and tired of being sick and tired. And has chosen to do whatever they feel is right to make a living. And you can take it to the bank that if those in power DON’T make changes like YESTERDAY, things are only going to become WORSE. I can only hope that things become better for the honest and hard working folks in Barbados. And others who has claimed Barbados to be home will also understand the importance in doing the right things for, and to those who knows NO OTHER PLACE TO GO TO CALL HOME. MAY THE MOST HIGH SHOW HIS MERCY UPON THOSE IN BARBADOS WHO DESPERATELY NEEDS HIS INTERVENTION DURING THESE TRYING TIMES.


  12. @ Anne
    “It is with amazement that many folks see crime only in terms of murder or those who rob”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    VERY well said Anne….

    But you MUST know that the problem comes from us being a bunch of brass bowl criminals ourselves …who see no problem with lying, cheating, bribing, buying stolen items, looking for hot deals, stealing time from employers, borrowing and not repaying, and such ‘acceptable practices’…

    It is VERY difficult to stand up publicly against CLICO when our neighbour would know that we just as ‘thiefing’ as the esteemed big-ups.

    It is VERY difficult to publicly confront political thieves who hide their loot on their mother’s account when our own families done know that we do the same shiite…

    …probably why we getting our damn eyes “juck out” over and over again …. a thief from a thief probably DOES mek God laugh….


  13. Quite true. Hants. There will always be those who want more than their share and will get it by any means. As I said on another thread there is nothing one can do with these people. They are not open to rehabilitation. All we can do with those people is lock them up or put them to death.

    Then there are persons who, through disenfranchisement and hopelessness or to put it differently,oppression and depression, will turn to crime. These are the ones that we can work with through re-engaging and empowering them to satisfy the needs and aspirations of a normal human being.

    Then there are the people who by exploitation of the masses or inheriting the proceeds of the exploitation of the masses hold the reins of control. And then there are the politicians who are selling their constituents out all in the name of greed. These in my opinion are also criminals who by their greed are responsible for the disenfranchisement of the people who are responding with the violent crime that is currently terrifying us.

    So until their mindset changes so that the poverty line is raised to enable the masses to at least with effort live comfortably while maintaining visions of progress with extra effort this level of overt violent crime will persist. Until these covertly violent criminals feel the effects of their actions, that is, until they have to barricade themselves in their homes for fear of home invasions or kidnappings nothing will change.

    Let’s hope they wise up before it is too late.


  14. Bushie,

    Can’t rightly say that I’ve ever been involved in the activities of which you speak. May have stolen some time from my employer but I always tried to put it back in later so that I wouldn’t be in the red. I’m a bit of an erratic person at times. Not your average 9 to 5. Needed flexible hours.


  15. And so we come right back to what I was saying in comments on the “Guns of August ” thread. Only now more of you are expressing the same views.


  16. @Hants

    Deviant behaviour and crime will always be with us, such is the makeup of humankind. There will therefore always be tension put on whether the current state of things is tolerable. All will never be onboard.


  17. @ David,

    Yes but the biggest contributor to crime in Barbados today is unemployment.

    Too many young people cannot find jobs.

    Job = money = food.


  18. @ Hants
    Too many young people cannot find jobs.
    Job = money = food
    +++++++++++++++++
    Boss, Bushie wants to be around when you finally awake one day from you “white-world” induced coma….
    This ‘job’ of which you speak fits into a paradigm of slavery …or at least servility, where someone’s aim in life is to find a ‘good and faithful master’ to look after their needs…..
    Shiite man!!, …is that not the expected objective of a damn pet?

    A ‘job’ is what you get when you can’t do any better.

    Why are we not encouraging our young men to “call no damn man ‘MASTER’ “and why are we NOT teaching them that they have the potential to become ‘masters’ themselves?
    BTW…
    … it is completely WRONG to assert that one needs to have a damn ‘job’ in order to eat…

    One has only to be creative, industrious, hard-working and committed to one’s chosen talent(s). Wild animals and birds have no ‘jobs’… unless of course they are captured and confined…. and THEY manage to eat…

    What our young people really need is some damn pride in themselves; in their families; and in their damn country… but with our shiite education system and BB parents to guide them ..um is no wonder that they end up looking for a ‘job’ and a ‘master’ to capture their asses until retirement…


  19. It is a bigger issue Hants like Bushie alluded. We have developed a society of mendicants. We are shallow in how we think/philosphize. We are easily impressed by bright lights and glamour. The effort to live wholesome lives is trashed as drudgery. This is not a Barbados problem. There was a time many thought our ‘learning ‘ and foundation built post Independence gave us an advantage. It seems not to be the case if we are to judge from unfolding events.


  20. @David and Bushie.

    The two of you are probably a lot brighter and accomplished than me.

    The two of you can provide “guidance’ to young people so they can “call no damn man ‘MASTER’


  21. Bushie,

    Quite true that we, most of us, as somebody once said, have just moved from the fields to the office with the same master. Then some of us are owned by the financial institutions by way of debt from which we will never be free. However, what you are proposing would be the end of multi-national corporations and the like and all the products that go with it. It would be a return to the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. I don’t know that I’d have a problem with that but I can’t see that happening in the normal course of things. I guess if we pooled our resources it could be possible but…….


  22. @Hants, Donna, Bushie, Mr. C. and those who “believe” in ‘Nancy stories.:

    Once upon a time, and a very long time, a world was created. It was supposed to be a beautiful world, with a beautiful garden that had in everything. And at first there was one man, then someone else was created, and was called woman, and everything was good. Then everything went hay-wire for no good reason. One of them became dissatisfied, and disobeyed the instructions issued when the man and the woman were created. One became greedy and encouraged the other to become greedy too. And they had two children, so there were only four people in this perfect world. One of these four became even greedier. He wanted something the other had. He formulated a plan, and according to plan killed one of the others; his own brother.

    This pattern has continued down through the ages, between individuals, countries kings,and queens, up to today.

    Why do you think Barbados is, or would be. immune to this type of behaviour. It is not acceptable and should not be condoned. But as long as human beings live it will happen.
    Even though the penalty for heresy was

    The solution is eternal vigilance, and appropriate action where necessary.


  23. @ Donna
    It would not necessarily mean the end of big business or of innovation. There will always be those among us who are good for nothing more than to be chattel …. Bushie gives you Alvin “the Chipmunk” Cummins as a classic example….indeed he excels at that level… LOL

    The problem is where our “EDUCATION system” promotes such chattel ambitions as a first option for our society …and our youth…
    People like You, David and Money B will ALWAYS be able to find idiots like Alvin, AC and Dompey to ‘hold down jobs for life’ in wunna Multinational Corporations …while making wunna selves rich as shiite (so you can die and leave the money for your lazy wutless children to lick out …ha ha ha )

    So fret not…. 🙂
    the poor and foolish will always be around in abundance to be exploited….
    …BUT NOT STINKING BUSHIE…. (Thank yuh Popsicle…. )


  24. BT what are you talking about your education system is one of the best …otherwise…. how would your young people know to turn themselves in to police after they read it in the paper


  25. Bushie ”Bush Tea August 28, 2015 at 2:27 PM # ”

    The problem Bushie, is that the societal structures and cost of living, put anyone hoping to entrepremeurship against a wall.

    Land, house and vehicle prices are way off the chart, not related to the product provided and hamstring anyone who is trying to get ahead.

    How can you set up a business when rental prices are through the roof? When vehicle prices are way too high?

    And when trying to start up, you still need to pay the exorbitant rents caused by exorbitant house prices.

    There is an artificially created land and house market here, which is crippling the economy and crippling those trying to start up and indeed, those who could use earned funds to invest.

    There is NO RELATION of the current house prices to cost of building.

    Yet, go to the South Coast and see all of the houses for sale.

    It is NOT a demand and supply issue.

    It is a rip-off issue.


  26. Hants

    Well said Hants… unemployment amongst the youth is a serious problem, and quite possibly could be a real threat to our national-security.


  27. David, talk about digression from the main point of deliberation … how has criminality amongst the female gender progressed into a discussion involving whitecollar crime?

    The question was presented regarding the emerging phenomenon of criminal activity, which in recent time hasn’t been seen amongst feminine-gender in Barbados, and before we seek to understand the dynamics of this new trend by examining past and present data to afford us some insight into this matter, we shot off our mouths without giving any thought or much consideration to the central thesis.

    I am interested to ascertain why our women are choosing the path of crime, given a historical record which does not reflect this reality. Hants has hinted to the high unemployment rate in Barbados as one possibly reason for this emerging phenomenon amongst female species in Barbados, but we have had instances where our unemployment rate was elevated, and yet this has never occured.


  28. The only difference is TV and social media accessing and showing “in real time” what is happening, Yes over the years the criminal activity has escalated among female However there is and has always been female propensity to engage in criminal activity such as petty crime and hardened criminal activity most of which was hidden away from public view due to the non existence of social media
    Take for e,g, the numerous videos that frequent social media with females especially school children engaging in brutal fights, well if memory serves me correct that kind of brutish behaviuor existed for a long time but was hidden away from public view, However with the advent of social media it has now become prevalent to view giving a false impression that female antisocial activity only started in recent times and its escalation has now grown from poverty or some other source of non govt policies,.


  29. Absolutely right Crusoe.
    A clear case of the ‘haves’ creating artificial conditions to protect their privileges…and to keep the ‘have-nots’ in their places.

    The problem comes because we buy into their concept of success – even in their business model where every one NEEDS their OWN stuff….
    Bushie keeps harping on the COLLECTIVE approach that we can adopt through cooperatives to chart a novel definition of success for ourselves, but it appears that unless our role models themselves adopt the coop model, we will continue to yearn after their selfish, capitalist models ….to our ultimate demise.


  30. Mister Bushman,

    Exploitation and multinational corporations are not my bag. Not overly impressed with the products of mass production either. But realistically speaking I know no-one but God is going to reverse this system. And I was thinking that there will always be people who need a job. My idea was less radical. I would wish the wages to be higher than subsistence and the conditions to be conducive to keeping one’s human dignity.

    I couldn’t agree with you more about the concept of success and how we define ourselves by their selfish standards. If we pooled our resources as I said it would be possible to be our own masters. But……..

    The deficiencies in our education system are as you say. As a parent I am attempting to override that mindset.


  31. Alvin Cummins,

    Boy, you too like to put my name on lists nuh! Now I’m on the list of people who believe in ‘Nancy stories.

    It would surprise you to know that my best friend of thirty years is an atheist. So, how do we maintain our friendship? Is it by NOT discussing Christianity? It’s too much a part of me for that. We discuss my life so therefore we discuss my faith. But though we discuss we have NEVER argued. I’ll tell you why.

    I have absolutely NO PROOF that God exists and she has absolutely NO PROOF that He doesn’t. And we are both smart enough to recognize that.

    Now either produce your proof or admit that you’re not as smart as my best friend and I are!


  32. You know, my Imaginary Friend couldn’t have done more for me if He were real. So why the devil would I ever get rid of Him?!!!


  33. Imaginary friend…I thought you were talking about some deaf guy. God exists I have said it before camel shit in the desert…you don’t see the camel, hear the camel but you know something left that pile of crap…..and that’s what we are camel shit


  34. The picture on the last page of Barbados Today is damning. Who do we believe this to be the case you ask? It is a known female enrollment outstrips the boys by a far margin. With the drop in enrollment an extrapolation using simple reasoning translates to?


  35. Lawson,

    Tongue-in -cheek, my friend.


  36. @ David
    This is called a market correction.
    After years of doing shiite and creating a false bubble of success based on meaningless numbers, some shiite has to give….

    Based on it’s impact on National development, UWI cave hill should really be SHUT DOWN and a whole new strategy developed. Why the hell did we need THOUSANDS of students up there when every shiite in Barbados is owned, managed, engineered and operated by foreigners?
    What the hell do they graduate to do…? answer phones at FLOW?

    Admittedly Sir Cave has achieved his PERSONAL objective and gone on to bigger things where he can now f@&^ up at a regional level as he push his personal agenda, …but look where it has left Barbados….
    From the time he abandoned the black enfranchisement story and became a Sagicor /COW stooge, we (wunna) should have seen through his scheme…..

    Now we either have to start over, or continue to throw good money into the UWI dry well…

    BTW..
    Interesting that Dr Downes was not considered for the post at UWI. Did he not recently articulate the position that the whole shiite needed to be re-evaluated and re-engineered in order to be meaningful?
    It is such thinking that we will need going forward rather than some lame wish to get back to the ‘good old days’ of thousands upon thousands of mediocre students destined to be clerks….


  37. @Bushie

    The BU household is very passionate about this matter, especially the matriarch. We are so upset at what is an inevitable slide. It makes sensible Barbadians so angry.


  38. Pow,Pow, pax, pax!

    Police investigating three shooting incidents

    Police have launched investigations into three separate shooting incidents which occurred yesterday, including that of a police constable. According to police public relations officer Acting Assistant Superintendent David Welch, a female police…

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