Let us go for the heart
published: Wednesday | December 4, 2002
THE EDITOR, Sir:
PROFESSOR VASCIANNIE'S article entitled "Going for the Jugular" appearing in the December 2 edition of The Gleaner, is very insightful in its critique of Government's proposed policy to tackle the astronomical rate of crime in Jamaica.
I agree with his analysis of the problem and his conclusion that the current proposed Government crime fighting policy that will result in curtailing human rights will not necessarily result in any meaningful long-term solution to the problem of crime in Jamaica.
When one considers the dismal failures of the State of Emergency and Suppression of Crime Acts instituted by the Government over the last two decades, the professor is right in sounding a note of caution. Apparently, the phenomenon of crime, especially the gruesome types of murder, happening on our beautiful island, is a very complex issue, that requires a far more complex solution. The problem goes deeper than poverty, drugs and gangs in Jamaica's poor demoralised communities, to selfishness, greed, lack of brotherly and neighbourly kindness, all symptoms of the advanced state of moral decadence now overwhelming the nation.
Any new policy that ignores our state of moral failures may only produce short-term results. Let us not just "go for the jugular", let us "go for the heart", an effort which requires not only careful research on the part of academicians like Professor Vasciannie, Government policy makers, crime fighting professionals, and the church but every concerned law-abiding Jamaican, there and in the diaspora, with a commitment to do what is necessary to bring moral change to Jamaica land we love.
