'Hurting people hurt people'

Dwight Bellanfante, Gleaner Writer

A COMMUNITY-BASED counselling psychologist has observed that many of Jamaica's crime victims are also perpetrators.

According to Christene Williams, counselling psychologist at the Community Counselling and Restorative Justice Centre, the trend contributes to the prevailing cycle of crime and retribution in many Jamaican communities.

Williams made these observations recently following a Gleaner Editors' Forum.

"Hurting people hurt people ... . They lash out, boys, especially, are raised by their mothers because of absentee fathers in many of these communities. When their frustrated mothers verbally and physically abuse them as young children, they absorb a lot of this pain.

"By the time they get bigger, they realise that their mother can't beat them anymore, so they ignore their mother and adopt the position that they can beat up other people who may have hurt them. So there is a lack of conflict resolution skills and violence becomes the means of settling disputes," said Williams.

The principle of restorative justice should be applied in communities plagued by violence, the psychologist added.

"We bring the victim and the victim's family together with the perpetrator and their family and we apply these principles and we find that after they have gone through the process, there is much greater understanding and less chance of the violence continuing," she explained.