public safety

Crime measure criticized

Since at least 1999, Panama's senior politicians have been promising to do something about the rising rate of violent crime.

Former president Mireya Moscoso promised to "strike hard" against criminals in a 1999 speech and promised to establish a high-level commission to address the problem. But nothing ever came of that proposal.

President Martín Torrijos also made crime a priority during his election speeches. Soon after his election, he started a program titled "Mano dura" which was supposed to steer young people away from criminal activity.

Now, sources close to the president have conceded that the program has mostly failed to achieve its objective.

Addressing the problem of juvenile crime is difficult, experts say, because it involves so many other issues, such as poverty, domestic violence and gang activity.

The Alianza Ciudadana Pro Justicia thinks it has a possible solution in a plan that it has submitted to the government that will address many of these issues.

The alliance said that knee-jerk reactions, such as the recently-imposed national curfew and proposed increases in juvenile sentences, will do little to solve the underlying issues of the nation's crime problem.

Instead, it suggests that the government address the problem with policies based on scientific evidence. So far, however, there has been no response from the president.