Some just don't care! - Youth council reacts to survey that young J'cans don't want to report corruption

The National Youth Council of Jamaica (NYCJ) says a lack of awareness of the channels to report corruption allegations or other crimes could explain why more than one in three Jamaicans aged 10-19 are generally unwilling to notify the authorities of illegal acts. The result was revealed last week in a survey released by the Office of the Contractor General. Given two scenarios, more than 80 per cent of the participants were able to identify a corrupt act but just about a third were less enthusiastic about reporting it.

Professor Trevor Munroe, in this week's Sunday Gleaner, wrote that such a situation, which he said speaks to cynicism and an underlying fear, "is to some extent unjustified".

"Results do often come from reporting corruption, and there are effective tools for reporting that do provide protection," said the National Integrity Action head, pointing to the toll free lines to some security force agencies as well as the witness protection programme.

However, NYCJ chairman, Nackadian Jones, maintains that the youth are not seeing results, a point that comes amid a debate over Jamaica's prosecution of high-ranking officials ensnared in corruption cases.

Jones also added that some young Jamaicans just do not know about the channels in law enforcement that facilitate the reporting of crimes. "There are person who might not be aware of the avenues available for them to report corrupt activities."

In addition he said the youth may just not care.

"They are preoccupied with other activities which they deemed more important. For instance, students in universities, they are more focused on school rather than what's happening," he said.

"The other thing that could be linked to that, is the fact that a lot of them do not think it bothers them or don't find it a bother until they are in the space, until they are directly impact by it."