Jamaica is an English-speaking country located in the Caribbean Sea to the south of Cuba. Jamaica’s potential for growth and development is enormous; however, according to the World Bank Country (2003), as cited in Gilbert & Sookram (2009), measured Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth over the years since 1972 has been unimpressive. Apart from its economic problems, Jamaica has a serious problem with crime and violence. For years there have been numerous attempts, through policy and legislation, to reduce the level of crime in Jamaica.
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Based on international statistics, this is a country that has suffered from a high crime rate for years, being near the top of international homicide rate lists since the 1970’s (Gilbert & Sookram, 2009). In this paper an attempt will be made to provide some level of insight into the possible contributing factors to violence in Jamaica. The factors that will be highlighted are social and economical (socio-economic) factors and how these issues relate to violence. According to Ask. com (2013), the term socioeconomic is a combination of two words – social and economic.
The social condition of a person means culture, society, where a person is living and his interaction with the society. Economic refers to financial status of the person. So basically, socioeconomic condition of an individual refers to his society, culture, environment, his interaction in society as it relates to his financial status. Socioeconomic status (SES) is often measured as a combination of education, income, and occupation. It is commonly seen as the social standing or class of an individual or group. When analyzed through a social class lens, privilege, power, and control are emphasized (Violence & Socioeconomic Status, 2013).
SES affects overall human functioning- our physical and mental health, the neighbourhoods in which we live, our daily activities, and our access to resources. Its effects can be observed across the life span. Inconsistency in socioeconomic status, such as inequality in the distribution of wealth, income, and access to resources, mitigate social problems. Low SES and its correlates, such as lower education, poverty, and poor health, critically affect our society as a whole. Social Impact Social and economic factors have an impact on the state of people’s lives which in turn influence their behaviour.
According to Gilbert & Sookram (2009), social describes the “family life interactions and close interpersonal relationships”, therefore when one speaks about the social issues relating to violence one would identify issues in the home, community, school and society that would lead to violence. If a child is from a home setting that has a high level of violence between family members, this child automatically knows no other way to relate to his or her peers, teachers, and other administrators than to employ an expression of violence.
For instance, the child’s father comes home drunk and the mother asks him, “How long will you continue to keep up this behaviour when you know the money is needed for food? ” The father responds with a slap across her face, “Shut up you chat too much! ” he said. All these actions are done before the children anytime and anyplace. The son goes to school the seat he usually occupies now holds another boy. “Come outta mi seat” he said. “No one was sitting here when I came”, the new boy said. “WHAM!!! ” a big thump on his mouth.
This is how conflicts are resolved in his setting. This is the only way he knows due to socialization. Soyibo et al used an eight-item questionnaire, which reported on 16-17-year-old teenager’s exposure to community, domestic and school violence as victims or witnesses and as aggressors by virtue of injuring persons. In Soyibo’s study, students reported high levels of exposure to violence, with three-quarters of students witnessing violence and just under a third reporting injuring persons (Samms-Vaughn, 2013).
There is a common saying: “Children live what they learn”, and due to the exposure of violence in today’s society, if children are being nurtured in an environment where there is this high exposure to violence, it is likely that they too will grow up practicing what they see. According to Samms-Vaughn (2013), “Exposure to violence in childhood has been associated with aggressive and antisocial behaviour in childhood and with offending in adulthood. ” For example: If a child has experienced child abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse and domestic violence in their household or community, this exposure leads to aggressive behaviour in the future.
It was some years ago there was a documentary on the television show, Dr. Phil, where a father kept his family isolated from society. He had only girls and he sexually abused the mother to her death. After which he started abusing the oldest of the four. She was then trained in his way to take care of her siblings and prepare one of her younger siblings on a weekly basis for his pleasure. Anyone who did not follow through with the rules would be punished. She was aiding and abetting, which is a crime, but to her, she was just obeying her father’s wishes.
Years after, this story was highlighted and her younger siblings blamed her for the punishment she handed down in an uncivilized manner. She wept bitterly as she said she knew nothing else to do because that’s how she was raised. On the other hand, children can become violent sexually because of respect for their elders. For example, a boy who looks up to a father who he hears throughout his childhood physically and mentally abuses his mother for sexual intercourse. He in turn will feel that the only way to access sexual intercourse is through abuse and becomes an offender in his adult years. Economic Impact
Economic refers to the creation of resources to meet basic material needs, the distribution of both income and income-generating capabilities. (Gilbert & Sookram, 2009). According to Crawford-Brown (2010), the economic impact of violence is remarkable, as the Jamaica UNICEF country office estimates that violence costs the country over fifteen billion Jamaican dollars each year. Also, this figure is equivalent to the entire budget of the Ministry of Health. In addition, an even more significant economic factor is the waste of human resources caused by the unnecessary loss of human life (p. 35). For example, the massive loss of lives due to the “Strongman Dudus” scenario in Kingston. These persons economic condition was dependent on this one man. He was called the “area leader” and “don”. Children and older people alike worshipped him as they say he was their provider. His provisions included school fees, school accessories, clothing, housing, food and safety. In the whole gun battle between the people and the police, the people defended him violently to the extent of saying that they would give their lives to keep him alive.
Some persons who are poverty stricken tend to get frustrated by their situation and through frustration comes anger, especially towards persons who are self-reliant. Thus, violence can become the end result of the economic situation. For example, this can be demonstrated in a situation where a young man lacks the basic necessities for his daily living such as food, shelter and clothing and makes the so called “elite” his prey by robbing, looting and eventually shooting to satisfy his needs. Sometimes it becomes a hobby and extends to their wants such as stealing cell phones or laptops, in order to create an aspired self image.
According to Clayton (2012), “there are many untrained, uneducated and unqualified people in the country. About half of the total population aged 15-29 is not in the workforce. Many of these people have no qualifications or formal skills, and are therefore effectively unemployable in the formal economy” (p. 53). Of those persons aged 15-29 who are employed, many are in jobs that are unskilled or semi-skilled, pay low wages, often require working irregular hours, with no career structure, no job security, and no housing, medical, pension or other benefits.
Therefore, this means that there is a large reserve of disaffected, poorly-educated, unskilled and unqualified youth in Jamaica and they are many times seen as the main recruits for gangs, and account for much of the anti-social behaviour, including violent crime. In the event of a prolonged recession, this group is also likely to be the main participants in civil unrest. This is, therefore, a serious issue that has to be addressed in order to strengthen national security as violence is not only affecting the emotional health of the nation, it is also strongly affecting the Jamaican economy.
Crawford-Brown (2010) said that due the consequences of not providing the necessary ameliorative or rehabilitative services and also preventative services, this places additional strains on the Jamaican economy in terms of millions of dollars needed to preserve human resources. Violence is a present reality in the Jamaican social fabric that cannot be ignored. The economic impact associated with violence is not only placed on individuals who are facing poverty or the unemployed because Jamaica has a “cash starved” financial system that would suffice the economy if violence is reduced.
Additionally, the home is termed as the “first school”, wherefore, whatever is taught in the home or the main things socialized to a child normally sticks, hence a child’s social elements of life have a lot to do with how they react to and deal with conflicts and if these conflicts were seen to be managed in a negative way while growing up, this knowledge tends to be carried on throughout one’s life span. References Clayton, A. (2012). A New Approach: The National Security Policy For Jamaica 012. Retrieved from cabinet. gov. jm: http://www. cabinet. gov. jm/files/NATIONAL- SECURITY-POLICY-for-JAMAICA-2012. pdf Crawford-Brown, C. (2010). Children in the Line of Fire. Kingston: Arawak Publications. Gilbert, K. , & Sookram, S. (2009). The Socio-economic Determinants of Violent Crime in Jamaica. Retrieved from http://sta. uwi. edu/conferences/09/salises/documents/K%20Gilbert. pdf Samms-Vaughn, M. (2013). Urban Jamaican children’s exposure to community violence.
Retrieved from West Indian Medical Journal: http://caribbean. scielo. org/scielo. php? script=sci_arttext;amp;pid=S0043- 31442005000100004;amp;lng=en Violence ;amp; Socioeconomic Status. (2013). Retrieved from American Psychological Association: http://www. apa. org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-violence. aspx What does socioeconomic mean? (2013). Retrieved from Ask. com: http://answers. ask. com/Science/Nature/what_does_socioeconomic_mean
