There is the old saying, “you lean something every day”. Today’s edition of the Solomon Star has an article linking the word beligarism to burglary involving young children. In over 40 years policing I have never heard of beligarism in connection with the criminal act of burglary.
Despite my ignorance of the word, the Star’ report is concerning, if true, and I share some the details with readers. For a full view of the article, readers will need to see the full details in the Solomon Star newspaper on sale today.
Quote.
The Police leadership has come under the spotlight in the face of increasing social disorder and ‘beligarism’ (burglary) involving children as young as eight years old.
Centres for Violence Against Women that the police had set up at the beginning of the lockdown have become ghost Centers. The phones rang out each time they were called.
“There is no one there, and yet these are Centers which gave women who had been subjected to abuse and domestic violence a glimmer of hope. It all turned out to be nothing,” a frustrated member of the public told Solomon Star at the weekend.
Former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industries Immigration and Labour, George Kosui warned in an FB post yesterday Solomon Islands “could be facing … a social time bomb in the making.
“With the growing number of unemployed youths on the streets and the increase in the number of dropouts from the formal educations system, we could be facing a problem here…a social time bomb in the making,” he said.
Comment
There are some serious allegations contained in the full media story which suggest they should be examined
The concerns of breaking offences involving young people are not new and unemployment among the younger generation likened before as a ticking time bomb. Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand once described the degree of youth unemployment in the Solomon Islands as being akin to a ‘’ticking time bomb,” and that was some years ago.
Allegations about youth involvement in criminal activities is true in part, and one witnessed the looting of premises in Chinatown last November by individual opportunist youths, but by far the greater number of youths are without criminal intent but are no doubt frustrated by their lack of work and earnings and the solution to their situation is one of the greatest challenges facing the government year on year, especially since the birth rate continues to add to the social problems and the difficulty of chanelling work opportunities.
Another viewpoint to be considered in the context of the Star’s article is this - It used to be assumed that children under 14 were not criminally responsible unless they understood the seriousness of their wrongdoing. Doli incapax protects some children involved in minor offending, where the difference between seriously wrong compared to naughty or mischievous may be less clear in some children's minds.
But that doctrine was abolished in England and Wales in 1998, leaving an age of criminal responsibility of ten, the lowest in Europe. Some say that is too young.
What is regarded as the age of criminal responsibility in the Solomon Islands today?
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
