REFERRING TO your report in The Sunday Gleaner of August 16 captioned 'Young killers', it is a pity that the authorities always seem to be the last to acknowledge the dire conditions facing the nation. But have they really connected the dots?

Many of these teen and pre-teen perpetrators, reared under horrific conditions, some abandoned, have never had a sense of belonging, nor have they known stability or security in any aspects of their lives since birth - with the exception of the gang - so they have been consigned and conscripted to committing acts of violence to ensure their survival in a tough, dog-eat-dog environment where any tenderness of heart could earn you a place on a cold slab in the morgue.

Protracted violence

Those among us who for years have denigrated others warning of the effects of protracted violence and brutality are just about to get a first dose of reality. Those whose mantra of 'positive' affirmation has blinded them for decades to the steady degeneration of societal values and the devaluation of human life had better awaken to not just the 'spectre' of a potentially destructive force, but the palpable barbarism of a species we have tacitly bred and nurtured.

Perhaps there is no shock value left, even with this acceptance of reality, since we have retained our sanity by incrementally adjusting ourselves to ever-increasing levels and each rise in intensity of criminal endeavour. We may feel disgusted without the slightest hint of sympathy.

Other reactions? Your guess is as good as mine. In the absence of any plans, the wherewithal or even the resolve to contain and rehabilitate these cold-hearted killers, we will stridently call for the gallows or for state guns to remove them from our midst, ignoring the production line that keeps spewing them out.

I am, etc.,

Kadene Porter

kadene26@hotmail.com

Fl, USA