How do we ‘fight’ crime?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Criminals in Jamaica multiply like mosquitoes on wet summer days. They fester in the ‘nearby bushes’, ‘unknown taxis’, ‘gangs’ etc, etc. They also thrive in the police force, reactive rather than proactive successive government leaders, idle and inefficient ministry workers, women who protect them, underfunded schools, expensive secondary education, poor family planning, archaic laws, and employment opportunities.

The Jamaican society has voiced these same concerns from time immemorial. The Government knows that it must tackle social reform to reset how Jamaicans think and act. Anyone could tell you that education is the way out of poverty and that poverty leads to crime. However, a generalised statement like that is not reflective of the true state of things – there are simply just wicked people in Jamaica.

How do we ‘fight’ crime? My unpopular opinion is the death penalty. Jamaican criminals have no regard for law enforcement. They are brazen. Let us therefore brazenly hang them in a public square as examples to all criminals of Jamaica. Barbaric? Do you know what is barbaric? Murder and kidnapping and raping and stealing and incest and molestation etc, etc.

Human rights group within and outside of Jamaica will and do have a problem with the death penalty, but Jamaica is not one of those countries that has the luxury to be progressive on every politically correct point.

We have been in a crime pandemic for years. Use the laws on the books, amend laws with more punitive measures, and invest in education for ALL Jamaicans.

We have to eradicate the existing branches of irremediable criminals and uproot the system that births them.

It is a mighty unpopular opinion. The Church and its members will be up in arms, of course. Yet, I know this piece is only reflective and the Government will of course do nothing. Therefore, the Church need not worry while the country is bathed in red.

P.R.