perpetrators of violent crimes. There is a conflict between those who are angry and want to use long sentences as a deterrent to violence and those who are facing the fact that there are an awful lot of young black men in prison.

It seems to us that on every occasion when there is a flare-up of criminal activity in Bermuda there is a rush to increase sentences. That looks good and comforts some of the public but it does nothing to improve the problems which led to crime in the first place.

There is no doubt that Bermuda is in danger of arriving at a situation where a jail sentence is an acceptable right of passage for young black men. The way they are brutalised by jail, the upheaval which this causes in their lives and the damage which this does to their future cannot be estimated, especially if drugs are involved in the offence.

Judge Tumim, when he wrote his report, understood that you cannot lock everyone away and that Bermuda has a very high proportion of its young black men in jail. His report started a whole examination of how Bermuda works and a kind of national questioning of how Bermuda treats young blacks. Such an examination is entirely healthy.

Judge Tumim clearly felt that Bermuda incarcerated too many people and, having locked them away, did too little in the way of rehabilitation.

This newspaper was under the impression that things were taking place which indicated at least a willingness to improve the situation. It was clear to us that the courts were responding to the Judge's suggestions and we hoped that the new prison would be less of a training ground for crime and allow for greater rehabilitation.

Then along came the judges of the Court of Appeal with a strong suggestion that Bermuda's courts are soft on people who commit violent crimes. Court of Appeal President Sir Denys Roberts said courts must pay attention to the public's desire for protection against violent criminals. "There is evidence that Bermuda is suffering from a degree of fear of violence, and this fear has increased in the community and that the courts are expected to act accordingly.'' He then set aside a suspended sentence imposed by the Chief Justice on a teenaged black man convicted of stabbing and badly wounding another man and substituted a three year prison sentence.

Sir Denys also suggested that Bermuda increase the maximum penalty for grievous bodily harm to life in prison, saying that a maximum sentence of ten years was inadequate.

There is little doubt that the public has been demanding tougher sentences for violence and that various groups are concerned about light sentences imposed on offenders against women and children. This seems to be true in other countries as well as Bermuda.

Yet there are many people, especially politicians, who say that we are harsh on young black men. The conflict is a problem. Many of the very people, especially politicians, who claim that sentencing is harsh in individual cases, then claim that we should be getting tough on crime and criminals.

Any solution rests in moving against the social causes of crime. But there are hopeful signs. The examination of Bermudian society going on right now by the Hon. Jerome Dill is positive. The new prison presents opportunities for rehabilitation we must take. The National Drugs Authority is in the hands of Mansfield Brock, a doer. We can do it. We can move against crime and violence in a constructive way.