THE death count for women last year reached a new high, largely as victims of reprisal attacks when gangsters miss their male targets, but there are worrying signs the police say that females are become immersed in violence as perpetrators of crime.

“In many instances you might find that a drug deal goes sour or a gun is stolen or a simple matter of ‘dissing’ someone else, it is reprisal time,” said police commissioner Lucius Thomas.

“When a reprisal is ordered and when the person or persons the gunmen are looking for cannot be found, these gunmen kill a family member, usually a girlfriend, a mother, a wife or an aunt.”

Women’s Media Watch, commenting in a written statement, said alongside ‘reprisal killings’, there were instances of ‘reprisal rapes’, targeting girls and women and “perpetrated by men in order to take revenge, terrorise and dehumanise entire communities and the families whose members are raped and/or killed.”

In 2005, 188 women were murdered, 33 per cent more than the 141 female homicides in 2004, and more than double the 87 killed in 2003.

As a percentage of total murders, the figures are 11.2 per cent in 2005; 9.6 per cent in 2004; and 8.9 per cent for 2003.

It is unclear what has sparked their emergence from the wings as passive bystanders and accomplices, but women are now toting their own illegal guns, and using them, some with the proficiency of their male counterparts.

“I think there is a trend that more women are becoming involved in crime,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields told Sunday Observer.

“There is a lot of evidence of women not only hiding stolen goods and hiding the gunmen, but there are instances of women acting as ‘shottas’ (shooters) themselves.”

Shields said these ‘gunwomen’ have been observed in the police metro area, which covers Kingston, St Andrew and urban St Catherine. Observed, but not caught.

The figures for 2005 show that of 767 persons arrested for shooting, only three were women; another 23 women were arrested for murder out of 788 indictments; four for robbery out of 685; and 14 for breaking out of 665.

“There have been instances where ATM cards have been robbed at gunpoint, PIN numbers have been demanded and the women have been sent off to extract money from ATMs while the victim is held hostage until that money has been extracted,” said Shields.

There was further evidence of female involvement in a criminal network in Grant’s Pen, St Andrew, broken up by the police last month.

The Grant’s Pen gang was implicated in the murders of AIDS support activist Steve Harvey and investment analyst Jamie Lue, as well as a series of armed robberies in the area.

A pregnant woman was reportedly among those held by the police at a house in Grant’s Pen, with items allegedly stolen from the murdered men and others.

“It’s not surprising that women would be found with stolen goods,” said Shields, noting that women often fence stolen items.

“Quite often, after men go out to rob, the proceeds of their crimes are passed on to their women, whether for their personal use or it might be easier for the women to sell those goods as well.”

But despite the rise in the number of women participating in criminal activities, the police are even more concerned about the increasing numbers of women being killed.

“It is a worrying trend that there are women who are prepared to pick up firearms and commit murder, but perhaps what is of more concern is the high increase in the number of women murdered last year,” said the DCP.

“Instances of rape and sexual abuse also seem to be on the increase. So perhaps the respect with which we used to treat women is being eroded.”

While the police ponder the alarming statistics, Betty Ann Blaine, social activist and convenor of the group Hear the Children’s Cry, points to a breakdown of social values and high rates of teen pregnancy as the root of the problem.

“There are too many children being born to teenagers who have no way of looking after them. It’s easy for a man to put a gun in the hands of a 10 or 12-year-old who has no parents,” she said.

Similarly Blaine says, it becomes tempting for a woman to hide guns and stash stolen loot on behalf of wrongdoers, in order to feed her hungry children.

“For the life of me I don’t know what our politicians and private sector leaders are thinking. What we need is a bombardment of social services in the inner city communities. Why can’t it be done?” she asked.

Acting executive director of the Bureau of Women’s Affairs Faith Webster said the state agency would have to conduct research to determine the extent to which women were getting into crime because of need or because of fear.

“They might be living in communities where they feel they just have to do it or be killed,” she said.

Shields concurred that any conclusion would require a much deeper look into the crime statistics, and a clearer picture on the profile of victims.

editorial@jamaicaobserver.com