When Prime Minister Allen Chastanet broached three weeks ago the effects of broken families on crime rates in Saint Lucia, the subsequent uproar from certain corners of our society perfectly encapsulated the finger-pointing culture that continues to plague this country. As was heard over the airwaves at the time, many attacked Chastanet’s comments, not on its merits, but on the basis of his skin tone. Others declared the prime minister sexist, even that his statement was an attack on single mothers. “I never spoke about single moms,” Chastanet informed Andre Paul, during an interview this week. “I was talking about crime in this country. When we visited Bordelais, and spoke to the people responsible for the young men in particular, we heard a recurring theme: many of the inmates come from broken homes.”
This echoed his initial May 6 comments on the issue, which had sparked the furore in the first place. Asked Chastanet at his pre-Cabinet press briefing: “What’s the root cause of crime? One of the main ones is the number of young girls who are having children under the age of 18 and having children with different men, following the pattern of their mothers and their grandmothers.”
The statistics back him up. The May 8, 2019 Bordelais Correctional Facility report states: “The majority of incarcerated persons (47%) grew up in single parent households whilst 24% grew up with both parents.” This majority figure does not even take into account inmates who come from homes where neither parent is present, further bolstering Chastanet’s “broken homes” point.
The PM, in his initial comments on the matter, stressed that under-age sex is not only a social ill, but is in fact also a crime, one that is continually swept under the carpet.
“A 13- or 14-year-old having a child is what?” he asked the host of What Makes You Mad? “It’s rape. It’s rape! What are we doing? Plus, there’s no system in place to help these young people. And as I said before, it’s not totally their fault. It’s also our fault! We’re not enforcing the law in the first place and we don’t have enough social workers. I’m saying to the general public as well, it’s also your fault.
“You pass by those households, you know exactly what’s going on, and none of us are reaching out to help. We cannot say we’re serious about solving the crime problem in this country if there’s not going to be empathy at that level. We’ve got to ask ourselves: how do we stop the rapes from happening in the first place? How do you stop that woman from being abused?”
The prime minister closed by pointedly addressing possible Doubting Thomases and Janes in his audience: “I have the greatest admiration for the women of this country. The greatest admiration.”
