Premier Alex Scott defended the majority of Bermuda's young people as the when House of Assembly re-opened on Friday.

However, he added, Government is striving to become an "authority" on violence and will be cracking down on discipline as well as exploring the root causes behind incidents such as last month's terrifying riot at Wellington Oval in which three people were injured.

"The majority of our young people are not sitting on walls without jobs or engaging in dangerous or anti-social activity," he told MPs.

"The majority of our young people are members of our sports programmes, our dance schools, our church programmes, our music schools and, at the same time, are diligently working to do their best in their studies, either locally or at overseas institutions.

"I am extremely proud of our young people and what they are able to accomplish with the limited human resources we have on our small Island."

However, to help address problems such as the "unprecedented display of violence during the Friendship Trophy Final at the Wellington Oval" in April, Mr. Scott said Cabinet members have been asked to develop programmes that "will serve to address those elements in the community that bring about a sense of hopelessness and helplessness amongst segments of our community".

"In addition, we have been consulting with and talking to representatives of the private sector, the international business sector and local community activists to determine how each segment of our community sees the problems and to determine collaboratively how with our collective resources we can address these concerns," he said.

"The Cabinet is set to review Ministry proposals to determine cost, feasibility and to establish links to existing or proposed initiatives within other Ministries. This will ensure that we do not reinvent the wheel and instead develop proposals that bring about joined up Government and effective and cost-efficient responses to the various issues under consideration.

"Most importantly, we are determining those proposals that are capable of being immediately implemented and those which need to form the basis of legislation or policy and that will need to come before this House."

At a Press conference after his speech, Mr. Scott said the final documents from each Ministry were being received.

"We are using a multi-faceted approach," he said, including "coming down hard" on criminals and looking at "root causes" of anti-social behaviour," he said.

One result could be stiffer penalties for criminal offences, he said, hinting in particular at "some instruments" which have "come up repeatedly" in violent incidents.

However he did not wish to pre-empt anything, he added. "All things are on the table."