Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
AN INCREASING number of juveniles are spending time behind bars and in places of safety, according to data from the Correctional Services.
As of September 12, juveniles in correctional centres stood at 402 persons, 52 less than the total number that were in the system for the entire 2006. The figure has soared from 189 in 2001.
A breakdown of the statistics, in terms of gender, indicates that the number of girls being locked have trebled since 2001, while twice as many young boys are being locked up for various breaches. For example, in 2001 there were 32 juveniles at the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre in St. Ann which houses females.
alarming
The number has risen to 106 as at September 12 this year, far outstripping Armadale's 50-girl capacity. Female juveniles are now being housed at Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre, a facility for adult females.
So alarming is the rising incidence of juveniles in correctional centres that Mary Clarke, Children's Advocate, has noted that "We need to look at why so many of our young people are ending up there".
Clarke says she is particularly concerned about the number of girls in the system,and called for the the conducting of studies to find out what has accounted for the dramatic increase in the juvenile population, especially girls.
"What I am seeing is children crying out for help; parents crying out for help. Parents are getting younger and they are crying out for help," Clarke tells The Sunday Gleaner.
The data out of the Correc-tional Services indicate that the most common charges for which juveniles find themselves in custody are larceny, wounding, dangerous drugs, illegal possession of firearm and malicious destruction of property.
Juveniles are also being held because they are in need of care and protection.
Mark Shields, Deputy Com-missioner of Police (DCP) in charge of crime, says "The age of criminality is coming down and there is evidence that younger boys, juveniles are engaged in crime from stealing all the way up to murder, and that is a worrying trend," DCP Shields discloses.
