..."apathy and a weak public opinion have led to the present unhappy and undesirable state of affairs in The Bahamas

Paul Adderley's view of court sentences

tribune242 editorial




INSTEAD OF assisting the police in crime solving, many Bahamians like to sit back and fingerpoint, blaming one or other political party for its cause.

While crime and its root causes are complex, Prime Minister Ingraham told House members last week that society cannot expect change if it continues to accept the practice of politicians receiving gifts from criminals to support an election. During the last two general elections, he said, there were claims that some politicians took money and gifts from drug dealers and other disreputable characters. We can add that no matter how hard these politicians might deny these claims, these disreputable characters, proud of their new found importance, don't mind chatting with reporters about their generosity to their "friends" in high places.

It's fairly easy to chart the source and escalation of crime through the columns of The Tribune.

Serious crime started in the sixties with politics. Suddenly Bahamians denied each other the democratic right of free speech, association and security. The advent of the PLP's "goon" squads at political rallies, escalating into burning of property, injury of citizens and general mayhem, started the ball rolling, followed in the seventies and eighties by the advent of the drug traffickers, fast boats, retaliatory killings, and a general breakdown of all the rules that held a Christian society together. Fast money was a badge of success and in schools some children expressed their dreams in schoolroom essays of one day following a family member into the drug trade.

The 1984 Commission of Inquiry summarised the corruption that had society in its grip --a corruption that had infiltrated even to the ministerial level of government and a "drug trade that caused persons to 'wink their eyes' or look the other way." It also left us with a Prime Minister who - according to the Minority Report of the inquiry into drug transshipment -- "did not exercise sufficient care to preclude the possibility of drug-related funds reaching his bank account or being applied for his benefit."

We recall the lone voice of then Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Thompson who predicted the very murder that we see on our streets today if society did not come to grips with the reality of those times.

In 1981-- 30 years ago -- then Attorney General Paul Adderley complained of the leniency with which drug offenders were being dealt with by the courts. His was the same complaint that we have today. He felt that the courts were contributing to society's breakdown.

Taking as his theme "Crime and its dirty companion corruption," Mr Adderley, in addressing the House on the appointment of a select committee to investigate criminal activities, took a dim view of the decision of some Supreme Court judges to allow probation for persons who had been convicted of armed robbery and other serious offences. As for the magistrates he wanted to know what they were thinking in their light sentencing of drug dealers.

Mr Adderley reminded the courts that a short time before the legislature had significantly increased the penalty for drug offenders. The prison term, he said, was increased five-fold and the maximum fine was increased twenty-fold.

"So there was no question as to how Parliament wished the court to view the seriousness of the drug offence," said Mr Adderley. "Notwithstanding that fact, that has been persistently ignored by the sentencing practice by the Magistrate's Court.

"The bench in the Magistrate's court," he said, "appears not to be aware of the fact of what the law was amended to. It is not for the bench to ignore the wishes of Parliament."

He recalled a particular case when a man pleaded guilty to more than six offences of armed robbery and was released on probation.

"That is wrong," he thundered. "It is right that it be said in this place (House of Assembly) that that kind of sentencing is bad, is destructive of public confidence in the system, is frustrating to police and totally inconsistent with what ought to be the morality of the community."

Today the situation is even worse -- many rogues are roaming our streets with one or more murder charges pending.

Mr Adderley knew of no way to protect society against that "small minority of persons who are terrorising the Bahamian community, except by long terms of imprisonment."

Mr Adderley was also harsh on Bahamian lawyers, who, he said, had neither a good nor high reputation. His views are interesting. We shall let Mr Adderley vent fully on them in this column tomorrow. Our readers know that nothing has improved with time, although we are confident that we have an Attorney General's office manned by lawyers fully aware of the problem who are trying to do something about it and a government that has vowed to amend the Bail Act.

We can only agree with the Commission of Inquiry's report of 27 years ago that "apathy and a weak public opinion have led to the present unhappy and undesirable state of affairs in the nation."

So don't send to inquire as to who is to blame for the country's crime. It is you, Mr Joe Q. Public. And no one can improve society's lot until Mr and Mrs Joe Q. Public bestir themselves and assist the police force with information to help fight the crime.

June 07, 2011

tribune242 editorial