Crimes Against Children Up
Jones Bahamas:
Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin yesterday revealed that there has been a noted increase in crimes against children.
However, the minister who spoke to reporters outside of Cabinet yesterday could not give any figures.
Between 2011 and 2012 there were 1,300 reported cases of child abuse, which include sexual abuse, neglect, emotional and physical abuse.
The minister said it’s a situation that’s of great concern for her ministry, particularly those that go unreported.
“I don’t have the information at the tip of my tongue, but we do know that abuse against children is up,” she said.
Just this past Monday, a community activist was arraigned in the Magistrate’s Court on incest charges and weeks before that, a police was arraigned for engaging in gross misconduct with an 11-year-old.
According to the minister, a sex-offender’s registry is in the works for The Bahamas.
“The minster of national security has already indicated that his ministry will be moving ahead with that and we will do it collaboration with one another,” she said.
Over the past several weeks, several men have been brought before the courts to face sex charges involving young males in their family.
Just last month, a toddler died from injuries he sustained after he was sexually abused by another close male relative.
It is the minister’s hope that people would shy away from abusing children, even when it comes to neglect.
May 29, 2013
The Bahama Journal
