The Editor, Sir:

The front page headline 'BEWARE' along with the current crime statistics, was not comforting news. What makes the situation so disheartening is the failure of the strategies that have been employed so far and the reluctance of the authorities to change course. Having made the fatal errors of over-simplifying and politicising crime while they were in opposition, the Government is finding that complex problems are not solved by catchy slogans. The public was led to believe that there would be instant fix to the crime problem if:

We changed the minister.

We changed the Government

There is the "political will"

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) had foreigners at the helm.

All of the above have been done and the monster crime has not merely survived, it seems to be growing from strength to strength. But, as grim as the picture is, we cannot surrender. We must insist that the Government heed the cry of the people. The people cry out for justice. If the maxim "Justice delayed is justice denied" is accepted, we are, indeed, denying justice in far too many circumstances.

Capital punishment

Then there is the matter of capital punishment. Our Constitution permits it, our laws decree it, the vast majority of our people demand it, but an influential minority abhors it. But, it is the will of the influential that is permitted to prevail, so our laws, our Constitution and the will of the majority are frustrated, thereby undermining confidence in the system of justice.

The lower the confidence in the official justice system, the greater the acceptance of 'alternate justice' system such as mob killings, reprisal killings and the justice dispensed through the 'dons', rather than the courts of the land.

There is no magic wand or simplistic quick fix to our crime and violence problem. This hydra of a monster has to be tackled from many fronts, simultaneously. We must, therefore, endeavour to urgently:

Speed up the justice system

Improve the relationship between the JCF and the public, which will enable better cooperation to facilitate crime detection and conviction

Increase effort to develop respect for local-level dispute resolution, in a hope that many of the domestic violence/murders crime would be resolved before they develop into fatal confrontations.

Make our Court of Appeal the final arbiter on our laws. To facilitate this, the Constitution must be amended to terminate the status of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Have the approval of the Jamaican people, by way of a referendum agreement, to subjugate the decisions of a Jamaican court to any foreign court must first. Ratification by Parliament is to be deemed as being only indicative, but valid ratification is to be achieved only after the peoples' approval via referendum

Study to establish the remedial skill-training and community enterprises that can transform many of our undertrained workforce-age people into productive contributors to the economy and budget allocation made for phased implementation of the strategy recommended from the study.

I am, etc.,

LUCIUS C. WHITE

1 Tankerville Ave

Kingston 6