Michael Weeks, the national security minister, has met young people in an effort to deal with what he called “the community violence crisis”.

Mr Weeks attended a gathering of youngsters involved in The Mirrors Programme last week where they told him about the impact of violence on their lives.

The minister said: "Spending time with our young people to understand their perspective is invaluable as we begin to peel back the layers behind the community violence crisis.

“I arranged for this visit to continue the work of my ministry's successful workshop for key stakeholders in September.

"At that two-day conference, we met with professionals in the field and had frank conversations about solving the community violence problem.

“It was, therefore, a natural next step that I would meet with young people to understand how to respond better to their needs and the needs of their families.

"All the feedback we have received from the professionals and the young people will be used to refine our national strategic plan. I look forward to meeting more young people from other organisations in the New Year.“

The conference involved more than 100 key stakeholders representing charities, Government agencies and helping organisations who met at the Hamilton Princess recently.

The Mirrors Programme is centred on eight “keys”, or principles of character development, dubbed by the programme as the “8 Keys of Excellence”.

Kimberley Jackson, the programme’s manager said the curriculum's “key” for December is “Speak with good purpose”, which encourages young people to talk “honestly and kindly of themselves and others”.

The theme also involves “the encouragement of participants to monitor their words and use words as a means of empowerment versus using words negatively”.

So far this year, nine people have been murdered in Bermuda.