Young Vincentians recently took a stand against violence in St Vincent and the Grenadines in light of recent crimes committed on the island.
Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves addressed the issue of violence in society during a call to WEFM’s Issues at Hand programme on Sunday.
He said there is certainly an issue, increasingly, with a number of persons, young in particular, who seem not to be able to differentiate between some of the things they may see on television or on YouTube and the kind of violence which is often portrayed.
“As though they are immune to any reflection as to what this thing represents. It numbs them in some way and dulls their consciousness about this matter.
But fundamentally it’s how we all grow up and we interact with one another in this society, which will be fundamental in us dealing with this terrible cancer.” Gonsalves said.
He also noted the recent decision of the Privy Council in relation to Trinidad and Tobago where it has on this occasion confirmed that the death penalty in its mandatory aspect is constitutional.
“Contrary to an earlier position that came out of our own Court of Appeal and at the CCJ,” said the prime minister.
He continued: “Of course there are many persons who feel quite strongly and some may say in our circumstances it is a matter which may be meritorious in the way in which they state it.
Maybe the practical abolition of the death penalty probably has induced some persons to have less restraint in using violence of an ultimate kind.
That’s a matter which increasingly we will have to look at again.”
