Frankco Harris<\/a>, who is compiling research on gang dynamics and youth violence in Bermuda, also urged those affected by violence to share their knowledge.<\/p>\nHe told a gathering of the Hamilton Rotary Club that organisations such as the Transitional Community Services, a charity for young adult men, needed to be supported in their mandates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not only about meeting people where they are but also the programming needs that support, financially and with manpower and with volunteers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris said he always looked at solutions from the perspective of \u201cwhat can we do better\u201d.<\/p>\n
The gathering heard that agencies in Bermuda were already mandated to address violence, but that it was \u201cabout scaling up what we already have\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris added: \u201cIf you are to look back to the early 2000s, when this issue started, clearly what we\u2019ve been doing has not been good enough in certain respects.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really about going in and looking at the services that are required.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Harris acknowledged that many Bermudians were all too familiar with the island\u2019s violence and how it might be addressed.<\/p>\n
However, he asked: \u201cAs a social scientist, I say how do we know what we know? And if we know what we know, how and why are we not responding to it with wraparound support?\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it was \u201ccrucial\u201d for those caught up in violence to speak up and get help.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris said he was \u201cglad not to use violence any more \u2014 but this is the reality that many face in Bermuda\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe closer we get to the truth, the uglier it can appear. And yet, it is essential to face it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also gave an historical, socioeconomic perspective of the problem\u2019s evolution.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris recounted his struggles with abuse and violence growing up in Bermuda.<\/p>\n
He said the more entrenched he became in understanding its roots, the more he understood the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I think about how violence shaped me, and how thin the line was between protecting my life and destroying it, I see why I became so curious about how violence operates in Bermuda.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cToo often I come across well-intentioned people talking about the gang problem at a distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome may be affected by the violence, through friends, family or their neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill, many do not know what it feels like to live where your life is constantly under threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although his lived experience had not been one of gang violence, he said that \u201cas a marginalised young Black man from the hood, I understand the complexity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris said he believed that society struggled most with \u201cauthenticity, the willingness to face our struggles, to sit with uncomfortable truths and to act with sincerity\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt requires significant effort to truly engage with the shadow parts of ourselves and our community.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo hold space for the anger and brokenness we all face as a community, not through performative displays of outrage or frustration \u2014 but by first examining ourselves and then stepping into the field to do the work needed to help our community heal, not just with words, but with action.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Harris, who holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in criminology as well as a master’s degree in criminal justice policy, is completing doctoral studies at the Oxford University in England.<\/p>\n
He is undertaking multiyear research <\/a>with support from the Transitional Community Services.<\/p>\nThe research, titled The Socio-spatial Dynamics of Gang Violence in Bermuda, explores how structural inequality, space and lived experiences intersect to shape patterns of violence and social exclusion in the context of small islands.<\/p>\n
During his research, he has engaged stakeholders including police officers, parents who lost loved ones, community leaders and people who carried out violent acts in the past.<\/p>\n
The final stage of his fieldwork before he returns to England to write his doctorate will see him heading back to the Transitional Community Services this week.<\/p>\n
He said he will present four overarching themes that have emerged from interviews with those who live the everyday realities around violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not be the one to dictate solutions,\u201d Mr Harris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about centring their voices, about epistemic justice and about ensuring that solutions are shaped with them, not just about them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Created: Sep 17, 2025 08:24 AM Frankco Harris researches violent crime in Bermuda, along with its roots (Photograph…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":234204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4219,125957,125958,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-234203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-crime","9":"tag-gang-activity","10":"tag-rotary","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115220534234518639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}