Punitive, Preventative & Participatory Action:
The crime dialogue is gaining momentum given the recent wave of attacks on women and children. There surely is cause for serious concern and, more so, serious action. However, knee-jerk reactions and mere rhetoric never produce effective change. I am amazed at some quarters from which the rhetoric comes. In most cases it is the same people who have sat in the seat of authority and decision-making for 30 years or more, saying the same things that they said but did not act on while they had the chance.
There is a grave danger that the prime minister and his Government must avoid, and that is the temptation to make decisions based on fear or pressure. Fear-driven decision-making nearly always has negative results. To avoid this emotional response, leaders need to have a clearly defined set of principles, values and standards to inform responsible decision-making. If proposed solutions create new problems, I contend that the best wisdom has not been found to solve the problem. So if the promised crime plan creates additional problems, we need to wheel and come again.
Do it right
Solutions that infringe on the rights and liberties of the people are fundamentally flawed in concept or execution, and often both. I read a statement about the coming plan attributed to Aubyn Hill, an adviser to the Government. It said, in part, “We hope we will get the support, [and] when it comes, we won’t hear any nonsense about ‘Oh! You can’t treat people that way!’ ”
I would prefer to think Hill was misquoted. He must be aware that the only way to do it properly is to do it right. Further, the only way to treat people is justly, and our just actions must include all strata and classes of our nation. If the principle of justice for all informs our action, it will always be done right. Violation of what is right is where the problems arise.
This is how the system has been treating people for decades. Injustice has been meted out to some and therefore trust has been broken down, making it difficult to govern.
Reaping a whirlwind
The truth is that we are now reaping the whirlwind in our country. We have failed two whole generations of (mainly) urban and poor rural children and youth who have now grown up to terrorise the nation. We have allowed the problem to build up over many years. The political system birthed it, the business class patronised it, and it is now out of control — a grown ‘hard-back’ child is now able to abuse its own parents.
So, even if we take immediate actions to deal with the current spike in crime, if we don’t address the root issues simultaneously, we will continuously be fighting the effects.
Who can’t solve crime?
It appears also that successive governments keep drawing on the wrong composition of individuals to devise the crime-fighting plan. Businessmen cannot solve crime. A corrupt police force cannot solve crime. Strategies rooted in injustice cannot solve crime. The bureaucrats cannot solve crime. Self-serving politicians cannot solve crime.
Politicians are responsible for setting our national policies that should address crime, but when self-interest or party or sectarian interests outweigh the national interest, we will never see the crime problem addressed. The links between Government, private sector and criminal enterprises must be finally and completely severed if we are to rein in this out-of- control ‘hard-back’ child.
Who can solve the problem?
It takes a team of people committed to the principle of justice, not corrupted by the system, nor easily corruptible. People with a genuine love for people and nation. People with strength of character. We need people who understand the social context and realities and who can gain the trust of the people. People with this profile, properly charged with responsibility and authority, can get the job done.
A dual approach is required
A two-tiered approach is vital at this time: punitive and preventative. On one level we must have strategies and measures directed at the existing crime issues. This short-term punitive approach must include improved apprehension and conviction rates; punishment must be swift and certain. Restorative justice must also be included, as this is needed in many communities to bring healing.
On another level, however, we must act in a way that is preventative. This requires medium- to long-term thinking and sustained action. This long-term preventative approach must include targeting the positive transformation of family structures and community development arrangements, along with the rehabilitation of youth involved in low-end criminal activities but who have not yet become seasoned criminal veterans. Church and civil society could play a critical role at this level.
Time for something different
Radical change and new thinking are necessary. I put ideas out in the last two articles. Others have suggested ideas as well, such as decentralising the police force and creating a Jamaican version of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Let’s get some debate going about the alternative solutions.
To arrest the out-of-control crime monster will require tough and swift measures in the immediate to short term. Although no measure should foster injustice in any shape or form, justice must be sure and swift. There must be known consequences for negative behaviour.
The death penalty for capital murder is ideal, but with a corrupt police force justice cannot be guaranteed. So the next best option must be applied.
A targeted zero-tolerance approach for serious offences may be more effective than a crackdown on petty offenders. A clear message must be sent that certain behaviours and use of certain weapons will not be tolerated.
We could appoint a crime czar to work with the Ministry of National Security with the authority to draw on all or any State agency to assist as needed. This office should have medium- to long-term goals that include the use of all available State resources to address the root issues that lead individuals into a life of crime. Policy must be set in every ministry and State agency aimed at addressing the crime issue, and more importantly the root issues of injustice.
The Church must help
The Church must take a stand against crime and go full force into working in our communities to help produce transformation in the lives of the youth. Our people need to be educated and empowered. Extensive work must be done in the area of character development. The Church must establish a standard and encourage citizens to aim for it.
We all must help
In addition, there must be a national consensus on the values that are needed to move the country forward. Values such as justice, truth, hard work, unity, reverence for life and, above all, love must be deliberately inculcated at all levels as part of a national programme. For it is “the teaching and practice of common values that determine that nation’s social and economic prosperity and cannot be left to ‘natural processes’ for their propagation in society”. So said Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir bin Mohamad at a Harvard Club dinner on July 28, 1993.
Had nations like Rwanda, Bosnia, Burundi, and Sudan accepted and acted expeditiously on Datuk Seri’s words, perhaps there would have been no civil war, ethnic strife, or genocide as part of their national journeys.
Where will our journey with our crime monster take us? We alone can determine that. It is therefore time for all of us to understand the important and critical role we must play to rein it in before it’s too late.
Copyright © 2017 by Rev Dr. Al Miller.
This article was first published in the Jamaica Observer. Read it HERE.