The text accompanying a cell phone video of a young man being reprimanded by a police officer with assistance of a bystander, posted by this newspaper on its Facebook page, suggested that youngsters are testing authorities because they know there is no acceptable place to detain them for very long. Miss Lalie Youth Care and Rehabilitation Centre in Cay Bay has been closed since it suffered damage during the passage of Hurricane Irma in September 2017 and international treaties do not permit locking up underage persons with adults in the Pointe Blanche prison.
The centre’s reopening has been called for by judges, prosecutors and others on several occasions. There are many urgent law enforcement needs, including repairs at the penitentiary and police stations, but a detention option for minors is certainly one of them.
When two St. Maarten Vocational School students held for stealing a teacher’s car were recently released, it was stated that extended detention might have been in order were it not for the lack of an adequate facility. However, the suspects will still be prosecuted.
The latter is key, because a conviction even without an actual prison sentence can have a far-reaching negative impact. Imagine a former teenage delinquent who later matures wanting to be a productive citizen and raise a family, but hampered in terms of employment, bank loans, etc., because of a criminal record.
While you may never go to jail, you could be marked for life.
