Page 22 - Violence Prevention Through the Engagement of Violence Producers

BACKGROUND

Crime, particularly murders and shootings, in Jamaica has two main features - one is its

high concentration in the major urban areas; the other is the high involvement of youth
between the ages of 16 and 25 years both as perpetrators and victims. The continued high

levels of shootings and murders over the years have been attributed to several factors
including poverty, political tribalism and the development of a sub-culture of violence

through the proliferation of criminal gangs. The study by Moser and Holland on violence
7
in Kingston revealed that residents of poor communities attributed the high level of crime

and violence to lack of economic opportunity and cited poverty as the reason for the
prevalence of drug related crime. As many inner city residents would put it and as Moser

and Holland captured in their study “Dat (that) is why dem (they) fire so much gun and
tink (think) about war…cause nutten naw gwaan inna di ghetto (there is no employment

or economic opportunity in the ghetto).”
8

These sentiments were also echoed by the 2016 National Crime Victimization Survey,
9
where 78.0 percent of respondents cited unemployment and poverty as the major causes

of crime and violence in Jamaica. The 2018 study by Dr Herbert Gayle showed that
10
50.0 percent of the households in the communities targeted by the Violence Interruption

Programme lived at or below the poverty line with two thirds of the working age members
possessing no skills or formal training.

Dr Gayle’s study also highlighted the association between low-income households and

experiences with violence, noting that 29.0 percent of households studied reported
experiencing intimate partner violence and in those household; 42.0 percent of youth

reported being tortured (sic) by one or both parents. It is important to note that among the
risk factors associated with youth gang joining are family violence and presence of gangs

in the neighbourhood.
11

Reports from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) have linked most murders and
shootings committed across Jamaica to the presence and activities of criminal gangs.

In 2017, Acting Commissioner of Police, Novelette Grant stated that 65.0 percent of

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7 Moser and Holland 1997
8 Ibid, page 9
9 Ministry of National Security 2016
10 H. Gayle et al
11 National Crime Prevention Centre 2007
4