BY RICHARD HOAD

MY FIRST BRUSH occurred in the front seat of the Land Rover T71 approximately 30 feet from the bottom of Vaucluse Yard Gap, near the junction that leads to Central cricket ground. The location had serious legal implications. I was about 11 years old at the time.

The above is a feeble attempt to introduce a little salacity into this week's offering which is faltering at the gates. It's been a traumatic week. On Monday we had to put down our old mare and share the grief of her daughter who took it hard with heart-rending cries for her return.

On Thursday, which hasn't come at time of writing, I had to take my good friend Buster to be castrated because he won't stop straying to look for girls. The lady Cornelia from the Hope Sanctuary lists wonderful benefits of castration. She obviously has never been a man.

However, I favour both execution and castration as appropriate remedies to serious crime; so maybe this is a good time to tackle that particular subject.

DAILY NATION (March 4) reported on Attorney-General Freundel Stuart's visit to the new Dodds Prison. Two contrasting photographs caught the eye: the first, a group of inmates "observing the touring party" from behind wire mesh like caged animals; the second, some very attractive females having "private moments with their incarcerated loved ones" at the facility. Makes one wonder.

"This country cannot afford to have some of its best brains and most robust energies locked away in a facility like this . . . ," commented Minister Stuart.

I agree. Prison population is a good measure of how badly a country is failing its citizens. On November 30, 2006, the United States Justice Department reported that "a record seven million people – one in every 32 United States adults – were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of 2005". What a waste!

DAILY NATION (March 6) showed exactly what Minister Stuart was talking about – at a time when Barbados needs its labour force, a group of youths accused of a series of crimes, including robbery with shooting.

Prevention is better than cure. And my question today is: how can we as a society save our young people from getting involved in crime?

Residents in every Bajan district can point out the youngsters there who are heading for trouble. They see the rebellious attitudes, the mixing with known criminals, the open meetings with drug pushers.

All these children pass through schools. These trends are detected there but are any drastic measures being taken to straighten them out?

Recently I gave a lift to a lady and her son. He was sullen and unmannerly. When we reached his school, he slammed the van door, ignored her request to put in his shirt, and left her with the parting gibe that he was going to make sure he got a suspension that day.

She was at her wits' end, she told me. He wasn't doing any work at school, she couldn't control him, he was mixing with a bad crowd. My question for Minister Freundel: what options are open to the many mothers in that situation? Because to lock up these individuals after they get into crime obviously isn't the answer.

We were of the old school. My big brothers had a favourite phrase if we younger ones were stepping out of line: "Pick a whip and come". It seemed to work. Could not a frustrated mother get a little similar off-the-record help from her police sergeant in this respect?

I was lucky that my aforementioned first brush with the law was as traumatic as they come: driving the Land Rover pulling a trailer, 11 years old, about to cross the public road when the most feared cop of all whizzed by on his motorcycle – Golbourne Cyrus himself.

Peeing yourself is a weird experience. You feel the warmth running down your leg, see the pool at your feet, but aren't sure who's responsible. It happened that day. Cyrus took name and address, I ran home and hid under the bed. Luckily that yard-gap was considered private and the matter was eventually dropped.

The experience, however, has kept me on the straight and narrow ever since.

Richard Hoad is a farmer and a social commentator.