Young people participating in the National Youth Forum on Crime and Violence at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer IT WAS a coming together of young people to make a strong anti-crime, anti-violence statement.
They gathered at the Jamaica Conference Centre, Duke Street, on the downtown Kingston waterfront, more than 2,000 of them from throughout Jamaica, representatives of groups including police youth clubs, the National Youth Service, Social Development Commission, Addiction Alert Organisation, and Jamaica Youth for Christ.
It was the first National Youth Conference on Crime and Violence in Jamaica.
The agreement was that they were no longer willing to watch the country fall prey to crime and violence. The plan was to grasp the available opportunity to be heard to discuss problems of drug abuse, drug trafficking, murder, disorder and disregard for people's lives.
Dr. Peter Phillips, the National Security Minister, who proposed the initiative and who made the conference possible, promised that the young people's commitment to building a better country would be rewarded."
He promised that his resolve was strengthened to do everything within his power to ensure that their inheritance of a peaceful, safe and secure Jamaica remained intact.
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, Burchell Whiteman, Minister of Education, Youth and Culture, Jevene Bent, an Assistant Commis-sioner of Police, Bishop Herro Blair, Political Ombudsman, and other officials were there. Their presence, according to Jhanelle Boothe, a 16-year-old participant, "created a sense of hope for the future of the country."
The presence of the Prime Minister, said Senator Kern Spencer, Parliamentary Secretary for National Security, was for them indicative of the vote of confidence that the Government was placing in the opinions of young persons.
They were presented with sobering crime statistics as they affect young people. Statistics for the last five years show that close to 80 per cent of persons arrested for major crimes were young persons under age 30. Of those arrested for murder, 75 per cent were 30 years or under. Young people are also over-represented as the victims of crime. In 1991-2000, 52 per cent of victims of murder were 30 years or under and 85 per cent of rape victims were in the same age group.
The workshops later enabled them to search for solutions to crime. Bishop Blair and Howard Gough of Patricia House (the drug rehabilitation centre), shared with them the pitfalls, pains, sorrows and dangers of making wrong choices.
So did drama and music presentations from Addiction Alert and the 'Multicast' crew of Marlon, Dami D, Scurm Dilly and Makonnen Blake-Hanna, who sang 'No More War'.
Shared stories recent remembrances of the 15-year-old girl raped in Grants Pen, of the 10-year-old girl killed by her mother's boyfriend, of the 17-year-old who killed his mother and of the Jamaican tertiary student who was arrested abroad for trafficking drugs, brought the message home.
"I'm sure that everyone here will have seen, known, heard of, been the victim of or maybe even the perpetrator of some violent and or criminal activity in our country in the past year," Senator Spencer said.
"It is not possible to resolve all these problems by what you call a policing response," Dr. Phillips said. "It is not possible to put a policeman at every spot where young people are gathered or have a difference of opinion; it is not possible to put a police officer in every household to resolve disputes. We have to collectively change the way we behave toward each other."
At the lunch break, and looking forward to the afternoon interactive session, Jhanelle and her group were seen again.
"It's like a whole new way to get your voice heard," her friend, Samantha Spencer, said. "Let's share our views. Let's see if they're heard and I pray to God that we don't just leave here, that something will in fact come out of this. I'm feeling very positive so far."
The Ministry of National Security said it would ensure that the recommendations were implemented. The conference is part of a youth crime prevention strategy that will focus on the development of a comprehensive youth-oriented policy approach to crime and violence. Coming out of the conference, a group of young people will be found who will spearhead dialogue among young people in the violence-prone communities. They will develop a relationship with the relevant Government ministries and non-governmental organisations to resolve disputes and have a sustained intervention with the relevant help.
