( L - R ) Kerr-Jarrett Albert

As the number of murdered Jamaicans pushes past 1,130 so far this year, representatives of the Church and civil society are crying out for stronger leadership to reduce the bloody atrocities being committed.

In only one weekend, the country witnessed the murder of nearly 20 people islandwide, among them the brutal manner in which mainly women and children were slaughtered in the east Kingston community of Rockfort by warring gangs. Two men have so far turned themselves in for questioning, and several others arrested.

Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, chairman of the St. James Parish Council, Mark Kerr-Jarrett, called for an urgent evaluation of the Ministry of National Security and the police high command's approach to crime fighting.

According to him, the current crime plan is bleeding the public purse, because too much is being spent on solving murders when enforcing simpler laws could have prevented those crimes in the first place. He opines that the penalties under those laws were too weak and needed to be stricter.

"As I always say murderers are not born, they are graduated. Why does a guy go from pickpocketing to breaking a house? Because he never got caught and the likelihood of getting caught is so small that the risk is worth it," a stern-speaking Kerr-Jarrett told The Gleaner.

Need for military order

With young men between age 14 and 30 responsible for most of the nation's crimes, Kerr-Jarrett also feels there is an urgent need for them to be brought into the military in order to rescue them from a life of violence.

He said, "(You need to have young men] in a controlled environment for an extended period of time and expose them to a different role-model system and and that is why the military is the only option."

Catholic clergyman, Father Richard Albert, disagrees though. He feels the military will act as another route for gun-training for youngsters, when other working social programmes, such as the National Youth Service can be expanded to keep boys out of trouble and provide them with basic socialisation skills and skills training.