Jamaicans home and abroad are extremely concerned about the alarmingly high crime rate in the nation. Even so, there is still a lot of violence in the news on many different fronts, which is raising the degree of public unrest every day.
Sometimes scamming is the most common type of criminal activity in Jamaica, and it has serious repercussions since con artists not only torment and defraud citizens of their money through a variety of outrageous schemes, but they also provoke deadly conflicts among themselves in an attempt to protect their profits. At other times, reprisals and counter-reprisals between gangs, mostly composed of youth, takes precedence. These gang-related wars have not only taken the lives of gang members, but also their relatives, associates, neighbors and innocent bystanders.
Scourge of contract killings: a disturbing new trend
Now, there’s a burgeoning category of violent crime which is especially cold, brutal, and evil taking over—death by contract. There have apparently been several violent fatalities in recent weeks, most of which included guns and were allegedly carried out by young people working as hired murderers.
A particular case that has been making headlines over the past three weeks involves the self-described spouse of a former government minister and member of the Jamaican parliament. She allegedly traveled to Jamaica from the USA with the intention of hiring assassins to abduct and murder a young woman and her infant daughter, who was fathered by said member of parliament. There have also been several other reports of contract killings involving the murders of spouses, entire families, close relatives, educators, children of ex-lovers, former employers, and so on.
Jamaicans admit that they dread being victims of a contract killing as a result of having angered someone. Some believe contract killing is a “new way to make a living” by criminals.
“For a few dollars someone can take your life at any minute, over the slightest dispute. People don’t use their fists to settle disputes, like the old days. No, they’ll likely pay someone to shoot you down,” a St. Andrew, Jamaica, resident, lamented.
The roots of violence: exploring the factors behind youth involvement
The fact that many of these contract murderers are young men—most of them in their early teens—is a very significant issue. It is concerning how many young Jamaicans are captivated by violence and immorality.
Is the reason for their involvement in criminal activities directly related to their desire to own “nice things” and clothes? Is this trend towards wickedness and violence a result of their unhappiness with the lack of socio-economic opportunities? Is it because more young people are being raised in broken homes without a family environment, and with little or no discipline imposed?
Have more students lost respect for teachers and school authority figures as a result of the lack of discipline at home?
And what about the church? Traditionally, the church has been a leader in shaping and preserving morals and values in Jamaican society. Is the church now failing to have an impact on youth behavior? Do youngsters believe the church’s sermons and teachings are irrelevant?
Is the problem a combination of all the above and more?
If measures to remove the nation’s pervasive illegal gun culture had been taken sooner, perhaps this spate of contract killings would not have occurred. The likelihood that people will come across available shooters willing to carry out these killings for relatively small prices should decrease if Jamaican authorities adopt a more active strategy to purge the nation of unlawful firearms.
Examining the role of mental disorders in Jamaica’s violence epidemic
It’s interesting to note that a late Jamaican psychiatrist estimated 42% of the population suffered from personality disorders. A former government minister and MP, who writes a column for a Jamaican newspaper, put up this theory, suggesting that personality disorders may be the core cause of the country’s violence epidemic. In his report the psychiatrist and clinical psychologist declared this personality or behavioral disorder “ranged from mild to severe, and consequently, treatment cannot be explored until the country accepts something is wrong”. He concluded, this “high risk behavioral dysfunction in the Jamaican population has significant implications in light of the country’s high rate of crime and violence.”
That report was submitted a decade ago. Since then, the number of violent crimes has drastically increased. Is there really a significant prevalence of serious personality disorders or mental health issues among Jamaicans? It certainly seems so, based on the bizarre, evil behavior being displayed, especially by the nation’s youth.
Addressing the crisis: a call for innovative solutions
How can this problem be addressed? There are suggestions of having more social workers to interface with broken families; more school counselors to address conflict resolutions; and getting the church more involved in stabilizing family and domestic issues. Can a combination of these approaches work?
What if the people’s frustration with not having enough social and economic possibilities is too great to overcome? What if this social and economic discontent is too deeply ingrained in the purported mental health issues, and manifesting as crime and violence?
But it cannot be too late. The Jamaican society needs to do more to alleviate these frustrations. To find and eliminate the source of evil causing so much violent crime in Jamaica, a strategic new approach is needed.
Prison incarcerations, states of emergency and curfews are not enough.
