Students from two high schools in St Thomas were exposed to the economic cost of violence on individuals by an attorney-at-law who informed that many families experience setbacks because their income has to be used to cover legal fees.

Attorney Karyl Ray-McIndoe shared the information during a forum on March 28 at Robert Lightbourne High School designed to influence teenagers to avoid acts that will plunge them into a life of crime.

The forum, held under the theme ‘Jus medz it: Violence ano the ansa’, was attended by upper school students from Paul Bogle High as well.

According to Ray-McIndoe, in some instances families of accused individuals are already disadvantaged because most of the offenders are from single-parent homes.

“These are the students that are often before the court. So now the family becomes further impoverished because the resources that we do have, now have to pay the queen’s counsel from Kingston to come and fight the case. So the sister who just passed for university — pass the CAPE [Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination] to go on to UWI [The University of the West Indies] or UTech [University of Technology, Jamaica] — cannot go [in] September because you have to have the lawyer fee to fight this murder charge that you picked up,” she explained to the students.

Ray-McIndoe added that crime and its consequences usually result from irrational decision-making.

“You refuse to think something through or make sense in a situation that affects a whole list of people, and we cannot have that. So, what I’m speaking about is not just the effect it has on you; it affects your siblings because you oftentimes are one of the older ones. So the ones to come now are faced with dealing with your actions. Grandma, who is one of the breadwinners, has to put together her little partner money, have to sell off piece of the land to help you, and the cycle of poverty is only perpetuated because of the actions and the consequences,” she said.

Ray-McIndoe urged the students to use the highway and other infrastructural developments within the parish as emblems of a wall from which they are making social advancement.

“We are coming out from behind the wall; so all of those things that were behind the wall, it is your responsibility to put them behind us. For us as a parish, as a community, as a society, as everything, to come forth as St Thomas… showing the world, showing everybody that we are it. Good things come from here,” she said.

“We have Miss World, athletes, footballers on the national side. So why is it that we choose to do the lowest stuff? Why do we choose to stay behind the wall when there is greatness in us?” she questioned.

The attorney, who is also a St Thomas native, said that teenagers’ involvement in gangs is of primary concern and it ought to stop.

“You are one of the smartest set of people; quickest generation in terms of technology, in terms of catching on to things… From the school fights to being involved in illicit activities with older persons, for being the gun bag, for being the lookout, for being the car, for being part of the trafficking group, it has to stop,” she said.

“You want to secure your future. You want to think in a sensible and logical way, not just for today or the spur of the moment or the heat of the argument or altercation. Think about what you want for your life for the next 10 years,” she emphasised.