LETTER: Call to Action: Restoration and Rebuilding of Antigua Youths with the National Cadet Corps

With violent crime among youth surging at an alarming rate across Antigua and Barbuda, a growing number of citizens, former servicemembers, and community leaders are calling for the urgent restoration of a once-proven institution: the Antigua & Barbuda National Cadet Corps.

According to recent reports, juveniles and young adults now account for nearly 90% of all criminal offenders on the island. In the past 12 months alone, Antigua has faced an unprecedented wave of car thefts, armed robberies, home invasions, and even murders involving individuals as young as 16.

Many believe this disturbing trend is directly linked to the dismantling of the original leadership structure of the National Cadet Corps a program that, from as early as 1993 to 2020, provided disciplined training, mentorship, and a structured environment for at-risk youth.

“The Corps wasn’t just a uniform and a title it was a second chance for hundreds of young people,” said a past cadet in the program. “Courts referred troubled youth to the Cadets instead of prison, and it worked. We kept them out of trouble, out of gangs, and often, off the streets altogether.”

The leadership change in 2020 led to the quiet removal of the dedicated men and women who built the program’s foundation over two decades. Since then, crime among young people has rapidly escalated, with hotspot communities like Villa, Grays Farm, Point, Greenbay, and Skerrits Pasture bearing the brunt.

Critics argue that the traditional youth justice system is failing. Juvenile detention now acts as a revolving door sending youths in broken and returning them hardened.

This press release is not just a reflection it’s a call to action:

The Proposal:

Reinstate the National Cadet Corps with its original core leadership from 1993–2020. Or a call for a meeting by former members to have our nation youth be reformed.

Reintroduce court-mandated Cadet service as an alternative to juvenile incarceration.

Establish community-based Cadet outreach programs in the most impacted areas.

Provide funding, support, and national recognition to restore the Corps as a leading institution in youth development and rehabilitation and have them enlisting in the Antigua & Barbuda Defence Force when reach the age after a reform.

“We already had a working solution. We just need the political will and public pressure to bring it back,” a Former Cadet stated. “Every day we delay, we lose another child to the streets.”

In a time when speeches are plentiful but action is scarce, restoring the Cadet Corps represents a tangible, immediate step toward breaking the cycle of crime and restoring pride, purpose, and discipline to Antigua and Barbuda’s youth.

– Anonymous