Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Gang Violence

The Ministry of Justice and Public Safety in Antigua and Barbuda recently hosted a two day workshop from April 14th to the 15th, that examined gang violence and its implications on the twin island state.
Drawing on expertise from the Organisation of American States (OAS), the ministry is seeking to come up with strategies of how to deal with the growing problem.
According to Minister of Justice Senator Colin Derrick in his opening address at least 12 gangs have been identified and while the majority of the members come from primarily low income areas, it is not unheard of for members to be recruited from well to do families.

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The workshop is timely but it remains to be seen if government and other community based groups are willing to help curb this problem by actually coming up with viable suggestions /plans and that its not just talking to appease the public.
To find out more about the negative influence of gang violence check out the two websites and maybe you may have some ideas of how to stop it from escalating.

http://www.vpcla.org/factGang.htm

www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/1376.html

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