Late Professor Bernard Headley had interest of underprivileged at heart
Published:Sunday | June 10, 2018 | 12:00 AM
The scholarly legacy that former University of the West Indies (UWI) criminology professor Bernard Headley left with Jamaica before dying as a result of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on Friday has been described by his 21-year-old son, Zachary, as inspiring and helpful to the underprivileged.
Headley was also professor emeritus of sociology and justice studies at North-Eastern Illinois University in Chicago, USA.
"He was genuine, loving, and very compassionate, not only to his family, but also his church and home community in the parish of Manchester. He had a sincere interest in helping his students at UWI. He had a unique interest in those who weren't privileged in society, particularly young men. He was a scholar, and his insight and research made me enjoy reading," Zachary Headley told The Gleaner yesterday.
WORKING TO HELP DEPORTEES
Sustainable Development Professor at the UWI Anthony Clayton remembers Headley best for his work in proving that not all deportees from the United States or the United Kingdom (UK) were criminals.
"He was at the university in the USA, and then he retired from there but didn't stop working. After his first retirement, he came to UWI and did some work on the deportee issue. It was really the first serious work done to get a good understanding of the deportee issue and what the problems were. There was a misunderstanding about the role of the deportee in crime here in Jamaica.
"A lot of people once believed that deportees were hardened criminals and were playing big roles in crime. What he did was study the statistics, conducted interviews, and did thorough research. He was able to establish that the great majority of deportees from the USA and the UK to Jamaica were not hardened criminals. They were persons who left, but things didn't work out for them, and they got into typically minor problems like technical visa violations and were put on a plane back to Jamaica. That suggested that we need to change our policies. Instead of thinking these people were coming back with crime, the task then was to reintegrate them into Jamaican society," Clayton told The Gleaner yesterday.
Headley was 72 years old when he died.
His latest column was featured in The Sunday Gleaner yesterday. It was entitled "I could have been among PM Theresa May's disinherited (Part Two).