The homicide rates across the region

EDITOR: It is dreadfully disturbing to hear of the number of gruesome and senseless homicides across the Caribbean nations, including our own St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Our islands are plagued by terrible killings. These murders of our men, women and children leave a sense of insecurity within our Caribbean communities and are ripping apart the moral and social fabric of society. They also leave families with physical and psychological scars that may never heal.

If we, as concerned citizens, immerse and flood ourselves with the details surrounding many of these killings, we will cringe and be reduced to pulp emotionally. However, according to cognitive psychologists the human mind does not function well in a state of discomfort.

Therefore, restoring dissonance of the mind is natural for many to continue to move forward in life.

As humans, many of us will justify, deny or simply avoid these details. The smaller the island the more socially connected we are to those who are directly affected by homicides and the more impact gruesome homicides will have on our people and our country.

The situation of homicide rates has not gone unnoticed by our leaders across the region. Our leaders are firing back, lamenting and warning our people daily.

Prime Minister Dr.

Gonsalves has reminded us that jail is not easy, and that jail is not a joke. Dr.

Gonsalves also asked that all sectors play an active role in the fight against crime. In Jamaica, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, while at a funeral, shared with the congregation, that he goes to bed with crime on his conscience. Prime Minister Holness lamented that dealing with crime and criminals in Jamaica is like a minefield. Dr. Keith Rowley, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago said that crime is now a public health issue in his country and that Trinidad and Tobago’s crime situation lately is “unusually horrendous.”

In identifying the causes of crime, scientists have linked poverty with crime and posited that poverty and crime are inextricably linked. I do agree that abject poverty can lead to some crimes. Therefore, addressing poverty throughout the region may help in reducing some crimes such as homicides. This relationship between poverty and crime is more intricate and is not the same everywhere.

Many times, the crimeto- poverty ratio globally does not fit the theory that poverty causes high crime rates. Is the distribution of wealth in the region the antidote for crime? If so, how then do we explain criminal acts such as money laundering and other white collar crimes for which the poor ends up being collateral damage in these operations?

Drug trafficking is another explanation given for the nature and frequency of homicides we are seeing across the region. The explosion and exposure of the drug trade, especially hard illegal drugs such

as cocaine has crossed borders decades ago and has been a gateway to transnational criminal organizations which may have deadly operations in the grand scheme of things.

Domestic violence and intimate partner violence are major causes of homicides in the English-speaking Caribbean. As is often the case, many domestic violence cases usually end fatally for victims, with the victims mainly being our vulnerable women and children. It may sound strange to many but victims of domestic violence are generally embarrassed and fearful to seek help and usually remain in their situation suffering in their “own silence.” To tackle domestic violence all hands must be on deck.

There must be advocacy and support dealing with a number of issues at the same time, such as bringing awareness and providing practical, emotional and legal support for victims.

In SVG, we have the 2015 Domestic Violence Act which offers greater protection to victims of domestic violence and gives the court greater powers to prosecute abusers. I believe that Church leaders , educators, police officers and all other citizens must read and understand SVG’s 2015 Domestic violence Act (you can get a soft copy on the government’s website).

It is unfair to say that leaders across the region are not doing enough to address this issue.

Repeated state of emergency has been put in place in the south side of Belize City yet homicide rates continue to increase in Belize. Jamaica too has tried state of emergency in some inner city areas which are plagued by gang violence but the results have not been that effective long enough (didn’t last as long as Miss ‘Janey fire as Vincentians would say).

In the words of Prime Minister Dr. Gonsalves, “all sectors must play an active role in tackling crime”. We can begin with our education system. Stakeholders in education must be competent and observant enough to spot the at-risk students and provide early intervention and support to help redirect paths. There is no society that is immune to crime but we can agree that some societies have more than they can carry.

Mauressa Delecia