Crime And Violence In Jamaica

Crime And Violence In Jamaica: How Did We Get Here?

In the statistics of the World Population Review, and Statista Research Department, Jamaica has consistently ranked among the highest in homicide rate in Latin America and the Caribbean countries. It ranked number one in 2023 in Latin America and the Caribbean with 49.3 homicides per 100K. With a population of 2.8 million, this statistic is alarming. The population is largely people of African descent, representing 76.3 %, and the most common ethnic group of Africans taken to Jamaica as enslaved people were the Akan from the Ivory Coast, now Ghana, the Igbo and Yoruba from what is presently Nigeria. Successive governments and citizens have made repeated attempts to tackle the problem of crime and violence but to no avail. However, the crime and violence that plague our nation are just a symptom of a bigger problem, that of a lack of community, in the way our African ancestors understood and practised it in their homeland.

Our ancestors' lives were centered around community because it played a significant role in preserving their rich cultural heritage. Subsequently, this was demonstrated in how they lived as a community, seeing to the wellbeing of each other through common values, shared interest, traditions, and bonds. This would involve how they formed families, used child-rearing practices, maintained spiritual and cultural traditions, and settled disputes. Some examples of guiding principles they used were proverbs such as “It takes a village to raise a child,” used loosely today; “the child who is not embraced by the village will burn it to feel its warmth.” “A person is a person because of other persons.” “One head does not hold council” alluding to collective decision making. All of these proverbs have the concept of community embedded in them.

Therefore, through the guidance of the respected council of elders, every community member shared the responsibility of maintaining the integrity of the cultural traditions through sustaining healthy marriages, settling disputes, celebrating, spiritual practices, nurturing, and raising the children. The idea of orphans did not exist as children had many mothers and fathers through the sisters and brothers of their parents. Consequently, the support, discipline, and transfer of values and traditions were shared responsibilities of the immediate extended family, and the community as a whole. These values and traditions, they would have brought with them and established as much as possible.

One major contributory factor to this problem of crime and violence is the history of enslavement and colonization. It dispersed families throughout the Caribbean and the Americas and tabooed all cultural practices. This enslavement experience created the concept of single parent families, with mostly female-headed households. The void of fathers was difficult to fill due to the frequency with which men were moved around to be “studs” to create more farm hands for the plantation owners. Remnant of this dysfunction is evident today where too many men sport the title of Baby father,” suggesting that he only fathered the child and has no other obligation to the development of this child. The Christianization of the enslaved people also forced another family form, the nuclear type, which only included the father, mother, and children. Other family members were now considered relatives and lived away from the nuclear family with limited interaction, removing the nurturing and support the extended family previously provided.

Another factor that contributed to crime and violence is that the elders were no longer valued in the new system, as the values and traditions our ancestors brought with them regarding the community were not in alignment. They were replaced with the concept of individualism of the Western nations, the United States of America and England in particular. These new values created a new system of governance in which the people no longer had the collective participatory mechanism that managed the communities. Some of these values would have been further entrenched, with the history of migration and travel to both countries for educational and employment pursuits. This further decimated the functions of the extended family and community structures that were essential to community living.

Given the impact of enslavement and colonization, what we now know as a community is just people living in a specified geographical location, who, many or may not know or interact with each other. They are not obliged to participate in community activities and do not necessarily subscribe to norms and values. New housing schemes can be inserted in any community without any consultation. Criminal gangs headed by “Dons” can also insert themselves into communities and enforce their own “rules” and “law” to which the community must observe. One example of such a rule or law is “infama fe dead” meaning anyone who reports any criminal offence to the police will be killed.

Since the family unit forms the basic component of the community, if it is dysfunctional and no longer provides the nurturing, support, discipline, and spiritual guidance through common cultural and traditional practices, then it ceases to be effective. If the elders who are gatekeepers of values and cultural tradition are no longer revered, these will be eroded and eventually disappear. Finally, where the people have now adopted the foreign values and systems of the colonizers, there can be no surprise how we got here…. It is said that Jamaica was the place where they broke the spirit of the enslaved people with the strongest resistance. Given that the largest numbers of enslaved people were Akan, could it also be that the spirits of these ancestors are still resisting, fighting and still in pain….

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March 2025