Disturbing Videos Show Pre-Teen Boys Involved in Theft, Prompting Concern Over Youth Psychology

Disturbing videos featuring pre-teen boys involved in theft have left a counsellor questioning the psychological health of some of today’s youth.

Chief executive officer of Supreme Counselling for Personal Development, Shawn Clarke, said the viral videos called into question the mindset of the boys involved.

They show two boys seemingly attempting to steal a motorcycle at Sky Mall in Haggatt Hall, St Michael, and stealing a vehicle belonging to a manager of one of the companies in The Designer Hub, also in Haggatt Hall. Before that, they can be seen loitering around the property, picked up by security cameras.

Filmed

The youngsters were filmed driving the stolen vehicle near the National Stadium in Waterford, followed by an employee of The Designer Hub, who eventually lost them.

“The concern continues about the state of affairs with young people in Barbados today. It is hard to really try to understand how the young people are thinking and what drives some of the behaviours that they’re exhibiting,” Clarke told the Saturday Sun.

He said the boys in the videos did not seem to care that their identities were being broadcast to the world.

“Almost everybody now knows that every house in Barbados, every business in Barbados, has cameras, so why would you so boldly go forward and do something like that?

‘Not thinking’ “It means that they are not thinking, so what is it that is affecting their brains? Is it the misuse of herb, weed, mollies? Is it the misuse or the use of something that is preventing these young people from thinking logically?

“It makes you wonder, is there some kind of psychological defect happening with one, if not both of them? And if it is just one and not the other, could the other not say, ‘Well, this is not a good idea?’ I think this is a case where psychological assessments need to come into play,” the counsellor said.

Clarke said he had already spoken about the need to source funds to conduct comprehensive assessments of young people exhibiting certain negative behaviours.

“What is happening?

Is it oppositional defiant disorder? Is it ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)? Is it conduct disorder? Is it schizophrenia? Is it bipolar disorder? What is really going on with these young people?

“We can only be able to tell that if we do a comprehensive behavioural assessment of these young people and look at certain trends.