“Juvenile law breakers deserve a second chance” – Director Boston

Juveniles who break the law need a second chance said William Orin Boston, Director of the
newly-established Juvenile Justice Programme. Boston said second chances will help the young
law breakers contribute positively to the holistic growth and development of the country.
Boston, who was appointed to the top position in January, said second chances for young
violators will ultimately reduce the impact of juvenile crime and other social ills because it
allows the young people to be educated, rehabilitated, and reintegrated into society as part of a
broader national reformation plan.
“The hall mark of rehabilitation, education and reintegration would rest on a programmatic
setting that would allow these juveniles who (break) the law…being held accountable for their
actions. These programmes however, hinge heavily on the child admitting to his/her wrongdoing
while expressing a willingness,” to change Boston said.
“The corrective actions would therefore be seen as a form of reformation, while at the same time
allowing them to understand their actions have consequences,” the Director said.
The Juvenile Justice Act came into force on October 10, 2018. The new law establishes how to
treat with young law breakers 14 to 18 years old. Among its rehabilitative measures are
providing oral or written apologies; being placed under the supervision and guidance of the Chief
Probation Officer or being put under the mentorship of a peer who can also contribute positive behaviour
patterns to the juvenile.
The new law also mandates that young lawbreakers get counselling or therapy; they must, under
compulsion, attend any institution for a vocational or educational purpose; return any (stolen) item to
victims or perform a community service.
Another option under the new law is that the family of the juvenile will also be required to provide to a
victim, some service or compensation.

Boston, an educator, disclosed that one of his key responsibilities is crafting diversionary
programmes which will be used to help reform the country’s troubled juveniles despite
roadblocks thrown up by sections of the Guyanese society.
The first difficulty to overcome is abuse of authority understood among large swaths of the
society as just punishment for transgressions
“What we are about to do may not be seen as the traditional or expected form of punishment that
society looks forward to. So, one of our greatest challenges would be rapid education. Even
among key stakeholders there is this challenge. Let me say that the police are our front line
because in the issues relating to coming into contact with the law nine out of 10 times the first
engagement would occur at the level of the station,” Boston said.
He said the second hurdle to overcome is the ability to identify effective cognitive training for
the law enforcement officials to function under the new social system brought into being by the
Juvenile Justice Act.
“This programme is not about persons not being able to arrest children or not being able to
discipline the children hut (doing so) as guided by the Convention of the Rights of the Child. I
am positive that a lot of us would have done things that were wrong when we were young and
some of us were fortunate to have strict parents, thus resulting in us not coming into contact with
the law,” the Director explained.
Boston is upbeat that the programme will be successful in Guyana because local data confirms
juvenile law breakers are amenable to reform resulting in a safer and better and better society for
all. He noted that reformation and rehabilitation would lead to declining prison population
allowing the country to better enjoy the benefits of its human resources.
“We have found that when you place juveniles in an environment among hardened and or
seasoned criminals, they end up learning from these persons and would have contributed to what
many of them would have eventually turned out to be,” Boston opined.
The former University lecturer described the third constraint facing the programme is inadequate
funding. To compensate, the new law speaks about programmatic intervention.

“Under the Juvenile Justice Act there is what we call an open facility where a juvenile can be
placed in facilities of a certain level and standard (where) juveniles must have the opportunity to
leave a facility and return. There is also the ‘closed’ facility and currently in Guyana we do not
have a juvenile closing facility,” he explained.
“We are currently working on having closed facility constructed and when we look at the
landscape at NOC (New Opportunity Corps) we can look at temporarily converting part of that
facility into a closed facility. I want to repeat that this can be done temporarily. As it is right now
a closed facility but based on the Act it is now being referred to as an open facility” Boston
explained.