JAMAICAN police have consistently, over many years, identified domestic violence — involving people who know each other well — as a significant contributor to the country’s high murder rate.

In Manchester, for example, a parish easily thought of as being relatively tranquil, domestic violence has been so concerning that a special initiative, the Manchester Dispute Resolution & Violence Prevention Association, was launched in mid-2012.

Brain child of National Security Minister and Member of Parliament for Central Manchester Mr Peter Bunting, the initiative seeks to sensitise communities and leaders within communities to find ways to resolve disputes before violence occurs.

Feedback from police in Manchester has suggested that the project is making a difference.

Whether the tragic murder of St Elizabeth teenager Miss Kimberly Simpson, as a result of jealous rage, could have been prevented had there been intervention from counsellors and mediators is anybody’s guess. We can only believe that it would have been advisable.

In that specific case, there are aspects those of us on the outside will probably never understand. For clearly, if we are to believe the news reports, here was a case of sadly confused relationships, beginning with the sexual abuse of a minor.

That said, enraged jealousy sometimes leading to murder is by no means confined to Jamaica. So-called crimes of passion have echoed down the ages in every corner of our world.

Yet, true or false, there is a troubling sense that such occurrences, particularly man-against-woman violence, are especially prevalent in Jamaica.

This newspaper suspects that it has much to do with upbringing. We contend that a male child grown up to love and respect women won’t find it easy to hit or otherwise physically hurt a woman.

Which brings us to parenting. Children’s Advocate Mrs Diahann Gordon-Harrison says every year there are thousands of reports of serious parental neglect reaching the authorities.

She is referring to children not being sent to school, children being left to fend for themselves, children unloved and exposed to all manner of abuses. We quake at the thought of the numbers the authorities never hear about.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that boys suffer most from such neglect, which may partly explain why so many young men grow up to be abusive, violent and dysfunctional.

Then there is teenaged pregnancy, a feature of the sad story in St Elizabeth last Friday. How does a 15-year-old make a good mother? She is, after all, still a child.

That problem is central to poor parenting, including child neglect and abuse in Jamaica. Yet, though, society recognises the problem and laments appropriately, the thought of placing contraceptives in the hands of a 14-year-old becomes morally outrageous. There may even be legal implications since the age of sexual consent is 16.

Meanwhile, the vicious cycle of teenaged pregnancy and parenting continues.

What’s to be done? As a society, we seem to be between the devil and the deep blue sea.