Bermudians must “sit with uncomfortable truths and act with sincerity” to take on the island’s cycle of gang violence, a community-minded criminologist said yesterday.

Frankco Harris, who is compiling research on gang dynamics and youth violence in Bermuda, also urged those affected by violence to share their knowledge.

He told a gathering of the Hamilton Rotary Club that organisations such as the Transitional Community Services, a charity for young adult men, needed to be supported in their mandates.

“It is not only about meeting people where they are but also the programming needs that support, financially and with manpower and with volunteers,” he said.

Mr Harris said he always looked at solutions from the perspective of “what can we do better”.

The gathering heard that agencies in Bermuda were already mandated to address violence, but that it was “about scaling up what we already have”.

Mr Harris added: “If you are to look back to the early 2000s, when this issue started, clearly what we’ve been doing has not been good enough in certain respects.

“It is really about going in and looking at the services that are required.”

Mr Harris acknowledged that many Bermudians were all too familiar with the island’s violence and how it might be addressed.

However, he asked: “As a social scientist, I say how do we know what we know? And if we know what we know, how and why are we not responding to it with wraparound support?”

He said it was “crucial” for those caught up in violence to speak up and get help.

Mr Harris said he was “glad not to use violence any more — but this is the reality that many face in Bermuda”.

“The closer we get to the truth, the uglier it can appear. And yet, it is essential to face it.”

He also gave an historical, socioeconomic perspective of the problem’s evolution.

Mr Harris recounted his struggles with abuse and violence growing up in Bermuda.

He said the more entrenched he became in understanding its roots, the more he understood the situation.

“When I think about how violence shaped me, and how thin the line was between protecting my life and destroying it, I see why I became so curious about how violence operates in Bermuda.”

He added: “Too often I come across well-intentioned people talking about the gang problem at a distance.

“Some may be affected by the violence, through friends, family or their neighbourhood.

“Still, many do not know what it feels like to live where your life is constantly under threat.”

Although his lived experience had not been one of gang violence, he said that “as a marginalised young Black man from the hood, I understand the complexity”.

Mr Harris said he believed that society struggled most with “authenticity, the willingness to face our struggles, to sit with uncomfortable truths and to act with sincerity”.

“It requires significant effort to truly engage with the shadow parts of ourselves and our community.

“To hold space for the anger and brokenness we all face as a community, not through performative displays of outrage or frustration — but by first examining ourselves and then stepping into the field to do the work needed to help our community heal, not just with words, but with action.”

Mr Harris, who holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology as well as a master's degree in criminal justice policy, is completing doctoral studies at the Oxford University in England.

He is undertaking multiyear research with support from the Transitional Community Services.

The research, titled The Socio-spatial Dynamics of Gang Violence in Bermuda, explores how structural inequality, space and lived experiences intersect to shape patterns of violence and social exclusion in the context of small islands.

During his research, he has engaged stakeholders including police officers, parents who lost loved ones, community leaders and people who carried out violent acts in the past.

The final stage of his fieldwork before he returns to England to write his doctorate will see him heading back to the Transitional Community Services this week.

He said he will present four overarching themes that have emerged from interviews with those who live the everyday realities around violence.

“I will not be the one to dictate solutions,” Mr Harris said.

“This is about centring their voices, about epistemic justice and about ensuring that solutions are shaped with them, not just about them.”