Experts in criminology worldwide have said that the best time to stop potential criminals in their tracks, is to catch them in their prime and with the country now fighting a serious crime war the government is rolling out new initiatives to win this fight, one of them, expected to roll out soon is a programme designed to scare at risk youth out of a life of crime, according to National Security Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage.

Internationally, television shows like Lock Up and Scared Straight, where young men who have for years been a menace to society are thrown into the ring with hardened criminals and forced to spend long days in jail and see where a life of crime would lead them if they do not straighten up are popular.

And according to Dr. Nottage the government is partnering with schools and homes throughout the country to implement such programmes locally.

Earlier this week he announced that unruly students at the T A Thompson junior and C C Sweeting senior schools who are said to be fighting an ongoing turf war will be the first to be enrolled.

“We are taking some of them, the ones who have the greatest disciplinary problems, out of the school system and we’re introducing them to shock treatment package which means that we take them out of school, we take them for three days and we expose them to what life is like for persons who continue to operate the way they are operating.

“They are going to spend time sleeping in Central Police Station, they’re going to spend time in prisons and they’re going to come up against some of the things that criminals come up against.”

Dr. Nottage admitted that the majority of violent crimes being committed, including murder, are by young men between the ages of 15 and 25.

Prime Minister Perry Christie himself acknowledge recently that many of the societal ills the country faces are due to the fact that many of these men are not properly socialised and have not had any exposure beyond their small, embattled communities.

So in fairness, Dr. Nottage said the boys will also experience the rewards that can be gained from being law abiding citizens.

“We’re exposing them to some of the packages at BTVI (The Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute) and how they could learn a skill, we’re taking them over to Atlantis to show them how people are when they work long enough and are able to take a vacation and we’re taking them to the airport so they can see what it’s like to go away, to be off the island.”

Dr. Nottage said this programme is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to implementing new crime fighting strategies.

He said the government is hopeful that over the next year or so we can all begin to see positive results.