Published:Tuesday | July 18, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
Public perception of how the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is functioning can have a significant impact on crime and the level of public support for law-enforcement efforts.The recent collapse of certain high-profile cases may...
Published:Tuesday | July 18, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
Resources, specifically equipment, money and people, are desperately needed to bolster the country's efforts to bring crime under control and administer justice fairly and effectively.As Fourth Floor participants...
Published:Thursday | July 13, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
No one alive in Jamaica in September 2012 will easily forget the national outrage that greeted the rape of an eight-year-old girl and four others in Irwin Point, St James. Neither will one quickly forget the collective sigh of relief when it was...
Published:Tuesday | July 11, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
The investigative capability of the police force came under scrutiny at the most recent gathering of Fourth Floor minds who were asked to undertake an assessment ofthe effectiveness of criminal...
Published:Monday | April 24, 2017 | 1:29 PMWyvolyn Gager
Duhaney Park, Mountain View Avenue, August Town - these Kingston communities have one thing in common. They are former conflict hot spots that have been touched by the Peace Management Initiative (PMI).Having laboured in these tough neighbourhoods,...
Published:Tuesday | April 25, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
Lasting peace will continue to elude Jamaica until there is a truth and reconciliation process. That’s the firm belief of Professor Wendel Abel, head of psychiatry at the University of the West Indies...
Published:Monday | April 24, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
More than 1,000 persons die violently in Jamaica each year. Their lives are snuffed out in various circumstances, including robbery, child abuse, reprisals, gang warfare, domestic violence and police killings.Death of a loved one can be frightening...
Published:Sunday | April 23, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
Gangs are menacing neighbourhoods all across Jamaica.Some gangs have targeted high schools to recruit the next generation of killers. This was revealed to a Fourth Floor panel, assembled to look at violence and its effects on society, particularly...
Published:Sunday | April 23, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
Anthropologist Dr Herbert Gayle has been studying child killers for the past 22 years. "I am probably the only person in the Western Hemisphere who has studied 200 of them," he declared to a stunned Fourth Floor panel."When you ask them about their...
Published:Thursday | February 16, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
Sociologist Dr Orville Taylor has accused the trade union movement of betraying its legacy in failing to provide the country with the next tier of political leaders.Jamaican trade unions have strong historical links with politics and consistently...
Published:Tuesday | February 14, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
Women dominate the Jamaican workforce and trade union membership. However, when one examines the top-tier leadership of labour unions, women are grossly underrepresented.The dearth of female leaders in labour unions was highlighted recently when an...
Published:Tuesday | February 14, 2017 | 12:00 AMWyvolyn Gager
Labour unions that have enjoyed many decades of lax oversight are being called out by one of their own.Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) president, Senator Kavan Gayle, is suggesting that unions that fail to comply with accountability...
