Crime in Jamaica

Crime in Jamaica

Jamaica – Land of wood, water and now crime. Jamaica was once and is still known as one of the islands of paradise of the world. If one did not know Jamaica and visited a tourist resort for a couple of days, or weeks even, you would see nothing but sunshine and beaches. An ordinary newspaper or even five minutes of the evening news would change your views drastically.

There have been over three hundred acts of crime and violence in the first quarter of the year of 2006. Of course, this is a superb breakthrough in comparison to the past years. Kidnappings, rape, incest and above all murder dominate our green isle. Al of these things has also been filling the media and is now beginning to become a part of our everyday lives.

With all of these acts of violence going on, there is only one question in our minds – “Why?”
No one knows the motives of these criminals who we have running about, but it is easy to guess some of these. Some people were not raised in communities that encourage healthy lifestyles and so they see nothing wrong with crime, others find it as a way of “getting back at the world” for the hardships they’ve had in their lives. Drugs and plain, cold cruelty drives a good-sized portion of the criminals as well. Many of the reasons however will never be known.

A few weeks ago, I played witness to a horrific act of crime. I was walking down the road to a function around mid-day when I saw two men in the street. I thought nothing of this scene until I saw one of the men sprint off into the near by bushes and the other clutching his chest. I made sense of it all when I saw a trickle of red on his white shirt below his hand. Taking advice from a nearby vendor, the victim went to the nearby policeman, whom, to my surprise, eluded him. When the man finally caught up with him, the policeman listened to his complaint and then cast his eyes upwards and deliberately walked away. The man who, by now had gotten weak went and sat down on the sidewalk. A woman saw him and tended to his wound with her rag. By now, a small group of people had formed around him but still the policeman was nowhere to be found. From what I could see of him, he wounded man had gone into immense pain and was shaking violently. A nearby car was stopped and the half – lifeless body hauled into a passing car and then to the nearest hospital…. twenty minutes away.
After his experience, and the shock of it all, I wondered whose fault was it? Wan it the man’s for getting involved with that bad man? Was it the policeman’s fault for walking away and not nabbing the criminal? Or was it the country’s fault for so much corruption? Whoever’s fault it was – a life was taken away and one chance to change the future is gone.

As solutions to this crime and violence in our country, I suggest we reintroduce and reinforce forms of punishment that we already have, we could also work with communities to identify individual skills and help to maximize potential. An idea that has been going on for quite some time now is to get more children off the streets and into institutions which have positive influences on them. Can this plague set on our country be stopped? The answer is “Yes” but only by us – the people of this country, the caretaker’s of God’s earth.