The House of Assembly yesterday witnessed a lively debate yesterday on the proposed amendments to the Criminal Code. said he welcomed the modernisation of Bermuda?s theft laws and the imposition of mandatory prison sentences for bladed weapons offences.

He warned, however, that such action needed to come as part of a broader scheme of improving education and the housing problem if the Island was ever going to witness a noticeable downturn in violent crime.

He also urged the Government to consider imposing even stiffer sentences on those found to be causing trouble in groups ? an essential step, he argued, in the fight against the burgeoning gang system.

?In all my life I have never lived in a more violent and crime-ridden society,? he said.

?Never have I felt such a sense of lawlessness as I do today. Some people are walking around the country with complete disregard for the rule of law. But while I am encouraged by the direction in which the Government is headed, we need to do even more to confront this new criminal element and break the cycle of those who have chosen a lifestyle of crime. We need to make it crystal clear that we are serious and we are going to stamp their activities out.?

Mr. Burgess also called for greater cooperation between the two political parties, arguing that only by presenting a united front on the issue would they meet with any substantive success. said he thought the public had a right to know who sexual predators were in the community and that this was something that should be revised. said if prisoners wanted to qualify for early release, they should be made to work.

He said prisoners could earn points for participating in various programmes including educational programmes.

He protested to the fact that parts of the Criminal Code appeared to be a ?cut and paste? from the British law and said it was unacceptable if this was done purely for the convenience of Bermuda?s ?British trained lawyers?. told the House that his constituency of Pembroke East Central had more gangs than any other in Bermuda and he felt the Police were not always doing enough.

He said the youth were exposed to so much violence and other ?influences? on television that old values did not apply to them anymore.

He added that he had first hand experience working with some of the gangs as a drug counsellor and that ?gang culture? was not something that would disappear overnight in Bermuda.

He said a number of young people in Bermuda go around with this ?gangster mentality? to the extent where it divided families.

He used last Friday nights? incident on board the party-boatas an example, saying that the two youngsters who attacked each other were cousins.

Mr. Bascome said a study needed to be done on the youth to address these serious issues.told the House later in the evening that the Government was looking at Gang Legislation that could be introduced as early as next year. offered his support for the bill.

He said anti-gang activity should start in pre-school as the spread of gangs could destroy communities once established.

Mr. Simmons said he lived in Washington DC when the gang mentality was imported from the west coast and before long it had stopped being about bonding and wearing similar clothes and had escalated into retaliatory murders.

The community is losing its sense of proprietorship, said Mr. Simmons, who said a wall originally painted for children with Winnie The Pooh at the hospital had become defaced with gang signs.

He said: ?We have to be as strong on corrections as we are on rehabilitation.?

Mr. Simmons, who said he had suffered from a burglar entering his house while his wife and child were on the couch, said people should feel able to defend themselves and their property without worrying about falling foul of the law. commended the Attorney General for a slew of legislation updating.

?It is not a knee-jerk over-reaction,? he said. ?We have carefully addressed the issue of causes of crime. This is a preventative measure to stop gang activity even before it starts.?said the issue of crime was touching everyone. He recalled being somehow caught up in four crimes recently.

They included someone who stole his identity and emptied various bank accounts, employing two people who were later convicted of drug importation, being the victim of a house breaking and his wife being robbed of a handbag.

?It touches everyone in our society,? he said. ?People are saying enough is enough.?

He said Police needed to develop grassroots connections. ?But in Devonshire east the Community Beat Officer is almost non existent,? he said. said the legislation took a firm line.

She said: ?Let it ring loud and clear, there is nothing soft, nothing woolly, nothing fuzzy, nothing cuddly. If you are caught you will do time.?said he was glad Government had stopped denying that crime was increasing and was at last bringing measures to tackle it.

?Government seems to have come to terms that this is happening in our society. They are finally beginning to wake up.?

He said a lot of the problems are caused by children growing up in single parents families and not getting the supervision they needed.

He said the bill is an answer to only one piece of the puzzle but drugs and gangs also need to be tackled.

More resources need to be given to the Police, said Mr. Moniz, who urged Government to get on with it and build the promised new Hamilton Polices station.said fragmentation of groups was affecting peoples? lives.

He said in one small areas there were six or seven groups who knew they could not cross each other?s territory. ?I don?t think that?s living,? he said. said a lot was made of families being split up but she said this was made worse by the fact that at one housing unit for single mothers children over ten-years-old could not be housed with their mothers.

?I have personally heard many stories of families separated as a result of not having sufficient facilities to house them.?