Prison officers sensitise SHSs on juvenile crimes

Officers from the Public Relations Unit at the Ghana Prisons Headquarters have sensitized students of some selected Senior High Schools within the Greater Accra region on the Juvenile Justice Act, Crime, and Juvenile Detention.
The schools include Osu Salem Senior High School, Kinbu Senior High/ Technical School, and pupils of Rangoon Junior High School.
The initiative is part of activities lined up for the “Youth and Crime Campaign,” which aims at creating awareness on crime and juvenile detention. Juveniles, young offenders, and youth within the age range of 15 to 25 years are actively involved in crime in recent times, thereby dominating the prison population.
Addressing final-year students of Salem SHS, Kinbu SHTS, DSP Samuel Kofi Opoku highlighted that offenses such as misdemeanour, defilement, examination malpractice, use of illicit drugs, and fraud have become common among the youth.
He raised concerns about the investments made in students to become law-abiding and productive individuals which are not realized due to the negative impact of social media, peer pressure, idleness, and bad influence from peers.
“The campaign has just begun with students of various senior high schools within the Greater Accra region but will soon reach out to churches and other youth associations,” he said.
The Youth and Crime Campaign is a three-month awareness creation project targeted at the youth.
“We hope that by March 2024 when the campaign ends, the impact will be effectively felt, thereby decreasing crime amongst the youth by 5%,” DSP Opoku expressed hope.
The headmaster and teachers of Osu Salem SHS, Kinbu SHTS, and Rangoon JHS were grateful for the timely intervention of the campaign, emphasizing the need for more education on the consequences of crime and detention for their students.
The headmaster of Salem SHS bemoaned that students are easily influenced, praying that the presentation by the Prison Officers would help deter his students from engaging in crimes.