The solutions to Jamaica’s crime epidemic are not to be found in a silver bullet or magic beans; they are in a series of common-sense initiatives that I have written about for years. Common-sense measures do not require much critical thinking; in fact, some of those initiatives are not novel ideas but ideas that have worked in other countries.
Much of the answers lie in the Jamaican people, including past and present law enforcement officers who left out of frustration.
It is important to note that the laws do not appropriately deter criminal conduct, and in many cases, they encourage it.
We need a new Constitution; this means severing the colonial ties with Britain, giving ourselves a chance to embark on a better path toward self-sufficiency even in this ever-increasing interconnected world.
Thankfully the Government has now begun doing the work to get us on that track, and this means that this administration is listening.
I wrote for years that because the laws are old and archaic, they encourage law-breaking. For example, if the penalty for illegal fishing is ten dollars Jamaican, why would anyone not break that law and catch some fish and, if caught, pay the fine.
Thirty-one years ago, while I was a young cop, some of the laws were so archaic there was no reason to enforce them, so we did not bother doing so. Enforcing them would not even garner a conviction; judges would admonish and discharge defendants making a mockery of our officers.
Today, most of those laws are still there not updated. This lapse, or rather acts of delinquency by the legislature, resulted in two generations of Jamaicans who are unconstrained by the prospect of consequence, so they do as they please.
Other laws are direct gifts to lawbreakers; there is no other way to view them; ‘squatter’s rights, whose idea was it to legislate that if one criminally occupies someone’s property over a certain period, they automatically become the owner of the property?
Why would people who need a place to live not set up residence on other people’s property? In many cases, they begin building permanent structures on land they know they do not own- land belonging to someone else.
Given that greenlight by the state to break the laws, Jamaicans embark on building illegal settlements on captured lands, sometimes arguing it’s ‘Jah’s land’; of course, once they establish illegal ownership, no one dares set foot on the property, it is no longer Jah’s land but theirs.
For as long as I can remember, administrations of the two political parties have allowed urban sprawl across the corporate area and the entire country. This is not unique to Jamaica, but other nations are responsible for their problems.
These squatter communities became incubators of violent crime. It is easy to follow the nexus of how allowing for what is viewed as small, inconsequential infractions to metastasize into mammoth epidemics like the one we are facing today.
Allowing squatter communities from Sufferers Heights to Flankers and From Back-To to Riverton and places beyond has contributed significantly to the violent epidemic of crime that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of innocent Jamaicans over the last several decades.
This resulted from incompetent and acquiescent policies that encouraged lawbreaking to solidify blocks of votes to attain and hold on to political power.
Lazy and incompetent legislators hired to make the right decisions spend their time figuring out ways to defraud the public instead of modernizing the nation’s laws.
Feuds that emanate from captured property almost always end up with violence as a solution, violence encouraged and made possible by a delinquent state.
Simple fixes like passing laws with sunset provisions give lawmakers time to see how legislation works and whether to reauthorize or allow them to expire.
There is no surprise that Jamaica is viewed as one of the most violent places on earth; its government, since 1962, has actively and unwittingly enhanced criminal conduct.
The present administration, too, approached the job of governance with the same nonchalance as its predecessor, unconvinced that you cannot build a society in which there is rampant crime and corruption.
However, it seems clearer nowadays that the Andrew Holness administration, at least on the face of it, realizes that Jamaica has no chance of competing without an end to the rampant criminality.
So the justice minister Delroy Chuch has tabled legislation that would add some teeth to murder convictions. Some argue correctly it does not go nearly far enough
It still isn’t law..
Who has a vested interest in bringing back violent murderers from prison except for trial lawyers? Where is the lobby for violence producers? What I am asking is, whose cause is served by shorter prison sentences for those who have been found guilty of taking the lives of others?
The Prime Minister recently told William, a future king of England, “we are going our own way”, Good, and none too soon. That statement should have been uttered sixty years ago back in 1962, not 2022.
I hope this is more than just words but action that will be followed up with a shiny new constitution well debated and backed up by expert advice and crafted using data. And for God’s sake, when I say expert opinion, I do not mean from the University of the West Indies..”
That Institution’s leftist bullshit has all but destroyed our country and much of the Caribbean.
A new constitution and updated laws are Jamaica’s best chances of propelling itself into the 21st century, albeit already 22 years late. Jamaicans can obey laws; we do when we live in other countries; let us ensure that we build a nation of laws that protects the weak and innocent and appropriately situate those who refuse to adhere to our social order.
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Mike Beckles is a former Police Detective, businessman, a freelance writer, black achiever honoree, and creator of the blog mikebeckles.com.