A FEW hours before dawn on October 6, masked gunmen descended on a house on Barnes Avenue in south-west St. Andrew, setting it ablaze and then stood outside to ensure that none of the occupants escaped. Sasha-Kay, a 10-year-old, furiously shook the padlocked verandah grille and cried desperately for help while the inferno closed in around her. A brave mongrel raised a bark in protest and was silenced by a gunman's bullet. Neighbours timidly watched, wanting to help but restrained themselves, fearing that they too would go the way of the dog. When all was done, four bodies, including Sasha-Kay's, were pulled from the ashes of the building. If that doesn't move you, nothing else will.
Indeed, little Sasha-Kay's cry still pierces the air it is a cry from all us and it is a cry for all of us. It is a plea for help, a finger of shame and haunting question we cannot dodge. What did we do, or failed to do over the last 30 years that could have paved the passage for this kind of mad, ruthless violence?
BARNES AVENUE TRAGEDY
The Barnes Avenue tragedy serves to highlight three things. First, the ruthlessness of the crimes being committed are the acts of twisted supermen. This is new breed of criminals without soul or conscience; evil men for whom the conception of good and evil is irrelevant.
Second, Operation Kingfish, the silver bullet that would slay the monster of crime has so far failed. Only divine intervention on an unimaginable scale can prevent this year's murder rate from exceeding last year's record figure of over 1,400.
Thirdly, what is happening in Jamaica is not a crime wave, it is a war. Make no mistake about it; this is no Marxist struggle of the working class against the ruling class; this is no a religious battle of believers against infidels. This is a war of the poor against the poor; a conflict in which the oppressed are the oppressors, and the oppressors are themselves oppressed; a fight in which battle lines are blurred, rules are non-existent and the spoils bitter.
And yet, it is not good enough simply to say something has failed without identifying the reason for the failure.
In Professor Al Francis and Kaycea Campbell of the University of the West Indies' study of crime in the Jamaica, one of the significant observations made was that the clear-up rate is an important deterrent to violent crimes. Actually, the strategy of putting the 'Kingfish' or 'Supermen', behind bars is a good one. However, it has failed to make an impact on the crime rate because it has had very limited success in arresting the 'king pins'.
Additionally, a big part of succeeding against crime is psychological. Simply having criminals sitting in jails will not send the right signal to those intent on creating mayhem in society. Priority must be given in the justice system to the trial of 'supermen.' These are unusual times and require unusual methods.
Another reason why Operation Kingfish has failed to make a dent on the crime rate is due to the fact that it is not supported by a clear set of socio-economic programmes aimed at transforming life in poverty stricken communities across Jamaica. Neglect and decay are overwhelming. Recently, after a flare-up in violence in Jones Town, Commissioner Lucius Thomas recommended that the people in these communities move to other areas.
ENORMOUS SOCIAL
AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
While the commissioner did not elaborate on his suggestion, which has enormous social and economic implications, it is obvious that he has made a connection between the living conditions in these volatile communities and the level of crime.
In the early 1980s, political scientist James Wilson and criminologist George Kelling came up with what has been called the 'Broken Window' theory. Essentially, the theory suggests that if the evidence of decay in a community persists for a fairly long time, it invites harassment and vandalism; it causes the people in the area to feel vulnerable, making them less willing to get involved in maintaining public order or in the upkeep of the community; it also encourages troublemakers from outside to commit crimes in the area. According to the Broken Window theory, decay manifests itself in accumulated garbage, dilapidated buildings, broken windows hence the name and other signs of disintegration. For too long, inner-city communities have been neglected and the poor have been sacrificed on the altar of tribal politics. We must accept that this is one of the reasons for the kind of violence we are now witnessing.
BROKEN WINDOW THEORY
Malcolm Gladwell in his book Tipping Point, argues that a part of the explanation for the dramatic decline in the crime rate in New York during the 1990s is associated with two men who took the Broken Window theory seriously: David Gunn, a transportation consultant who instituted a programme for cleaning up graffiti on the trains, and William Bratton at the Transit Authorities, who cracked down on fare-beating on the subways. A sloppy environment and tolerating seemingly minor misdemeanour create an atmosphere for major crimes.
Finally, the issue of education in these inner-city communities must be reexamined. We are a violent society and our past has been not been without blood and struggle. It is second nature for Jamaicans to resort to extreme measures in the settling of conflict. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that education gives people more. In general, an educated man tends to assign a lower priority to conflict resolution by violent means. This is why there has to be stronger emphasis on childhood education which takes the Jamaican culture into account.
Surely, we are in a war. A war in which there can be no winner, only victims; no triumph only grief. And yet, there would be no greater tragedy than for us to say nothing can be done. Sasha Kay's cry is still audible. There are young minds to be shaped and broken windows to be repaired.
Cedric Wilson is an economist who specialises in market regulation. He can be contacted at conoswil@yahoo.com.
CEDRIC WILSON, Guest Columnist
