The head of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) is calling for stiffer penalties to be imposed on secondary school students who commit violent acts on school compounds.President Rudy Lovell said it appeared as though authorities were reluctant to charge children for engaging in criminal activity despite evidence that students such as those go on to commit serious offences in adulthood.In an interview with Barbados TODAY, he suggested that stiffer penalties could deter some students from reoffending and also reduce the level of deviant behaviour in schools.“We are concerned that it appears as if there is a move not to criminalise students for committing violent offences on school compounds. These children are spared and some go on to commit further criminal acts. I think the students are of the opinion that when they are not given a stiffer punishment, some of them believe that they can do what they did previously and get away with it,” Lovell said.
