Attorney General Kim Wilson has acknowledged it will take more than tougher sentences to put a halt to Bermuda's gang crime, and said Government supports mediation too.

Her comments came after those in the front line of the fight against street violence spoke out last week, urging a greater focus on dispute resolution and counselling.

Carlton Simmons, president of anti-gang organisation Youth On the Move, told the Bermuda Sun he cringes when he hears leaders and lawyers talking about stricter penalties.

"We need to put hope back into the community to stop these people being so desperate. No amount of penalty is going to deter this type of behaviour without a social solution," he reportedly said.

Pastor Leroy Bean of another anti-gang group, CARTEL, called on Government to get serious about gang intervention and rehabilitation and give his voluntary group the funding to do it.

Meanwhile, new Assistant Police Commissioner David Mirfield outlined the benefits of direct intervention by mediators, which was successfully used by his old force in the UK to bring gang crime under control.

Sen. Wilson unveiled plans earlier this month to introduce tougher sentences for violent crimes such as attempted murder and wounding, and mooted the idea of judge-alone trials to help ensure convictions.

Asked about the calls for intervention and rehabilitation, she said: "It is acknowledged that stricter sentences and penalties do not necessarily serve as an effective deterrent for those who are both devoid of social morals and / or are determined to commit criminal acts.

"It must also be acknowledged that stricter sentences do, however, serve as a very strong deterrent to those persons who do not possess [such] strong sociopathic characters."

Sen. Wilson, who worked as a guidance counsellor at Whitney Institute before she became a lawyer, added: "I have always recognised the importance of being tough on crime whilst at the same time being tough on the social causes that may contribute to crime.

"The Government has confirmed this commitment with programmes such as Mirrors which is designed to assist in deferring persons from the gang culture. The Ministry of Social Rehabilitation is also finding successes in the above.

"As a former counsellor and current lawyer, I have always acknowledged and supported the importance of mediation as a form of dispute resolution. I, too, am of the view that a civilian mediation scheme could find success with the gang culture here in Bermuda."

However, she said Government will not move to introduce a statutory framework for gang mediation, explaining: "The primary factor which promotes successful mediation is that it is entered into voluntarily and that a trusting relationship exists between the parties and the mediator. I am of the view that these factors could be lost if mediation was made compulsory by statute."

Meanwhile a former gang member and a former Police Commissioner also backed the tough stance taken by Government, but stressed the need to reach out directly to those caught up in the strife.

Jahma Gibbons, 33, who used to be a heroin-peddling gangster until he found God several years ago, said: "My view is there's no one answer. We need mediation like Pastor Bean and Mr. Simmons was saying, but we do need tougher sentences too because we're dealing with a wide range of different mentalities.

"One person may be deterred from doing something if they know they will get a harsher sentence, but another person might need these mediators."

Last December, Prison Officers Association chairman Craig Clarke suggested Westgate could be a good place to host an anti-gang programme, since members of every gang on the Island live alongside each other there.

Mr. Gibbons, who now works as a motivational speaker, agrees.

"There needs to be more help in prison. A lot of people go in and do their time and then they are gone. There's nothing in prisons to help these guys through mediation and counselling.

"People think of Bermuda's jail like a hotel, and there's nothing there to deter them from going apart from the thought of getting a longer sentence."

However, he is sceptical that any tactics will work on the current batch of angry young men who are shooting each other on Bermuda's streets in an endless cycle of tit-for-tat retaliation.

"I think it's gone beyond talking now. I don't think guys really want to talk now. As long as these shootings and killings keep going on and they keep killing and shooting guys higher up in the gangs, there's no talking. These guys have known each other since childhood and there's a lot of emotion there. What is there to talk about? If I'm angry I'm going to retaliate."

The answer, he believes, lies in dissuading the younger generation from getting embroiled in the strife that those aged in their 20s and upwards are already caught up in.

"We really need to reach out to the younger ones before they get into the mindset of the older ones now," he said. "Bermuda hasn't really invested in the youth."

Giving his view on the issues, former Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith who led the Police service for five years until 2005 said: "A contemporary response to this law enforcement situation requires modern, effective legislation, resolute Police enforcement and a mechanism for prevention, rehabilitation and mediation.

"The Country's response has been for Government to aggressively enact a raft of appropriate, anti-gang and anti-crime legislation over the past ten years. That is all good because they are listening to the Police, law enforcement experts and assessing what works.

"Over the same period, the Police response has been just as aggressive with increased resources, targeted investigations, increased weaponry and increased training. We're clearly seeing the results of intensive investigations by the Police and a willingness to utilise the new legislation to the fullest."

However, Mr. Smith also commended the work being done by community leaders.

"There are dozens if not hundreds of highly committed people currently working in various rehabilitative programmes. For mediation to work, this requires skilled people to facilitate it and, importantly, perpetrators around the table who are committed to nothing less than ending the pattern of criminality, destruction and death," he said.

"You can see therefore just how much the resolution rests on individuals who are committed to stop the shooting. Therein lies both the complexity and the difficulty. As a community, we must commend all of the efforts to stop the gang warfare and focus all of our collective efforts on that objective rather than tear apart what we've done so far.

"We must include in that commendation the willingness of community leaders to step up, out and above the fray to lend their best efforts to lead mediation efforts as part of the contemporary package of what we simply have to do."