I need not elaborate on Jamaica’s crime challenges and the repercussions they are having on every aspect of society. I’d rather use this medium to join the many patriots who are spending time, energy and resources on a sustainable solution.

My proposal is to have a fundamental, 180-degree shift in our attitude towards our objective of a peaceful and prosperous Jamaica. The attitude of “fighting crime” is fundamentally wrong, as it places focus, attention, time and resources on crime.

Whatever gets attention and energy does only one thing: It grows.

Creating peace will shift that attention to the growth and expansion of peace which, by default, displaces crime. This is not just a philosophical concept. It is something that has been scientifically proven. Social scientist Robert Cialdini, esteemed professor of psychology at Arizona State University and author of

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, determined that: “One of the things that’s fundamental to human nature is that we imitate the actions of those around us.” Cialdini has conducted a number of landmark studies in influencing changes in human behaviour. One set of studies looked at influencing behaviours towards littering and litter prevention. Showing a TV commercial of a clean and pristine landscape with the tagline ‘Let’s keep it clean for all to enjoy’ led to a 33 per cent reduction in littering at a national park, compared to the alternative commercial showing litter everywhere with a Native American shedding a tear while observing the mess.

Other researchers have drawn similar conclusions. Social scientists James Q Wilson and George L Kelling introduced the Broken Windows Theory, which holds that people are more likely to break windows, write graffiti or deface an environment if it has already been defaced. In other words, one broken window leads to more broken windows. These results point to the fact that people are likely to do what they think is expected of them. People are sensitive to what they see as normal behaviour, and they’ll change their behaviour to adapt to what they see being done around them.

Our culture of lamenting, highlighting and keeping crime on the pinnacle of prominence in Jamaica simply serves to make more citizens feel that it is the norm. And I understand people who feel that way, but let’s do the maths. Based on data from the US Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Jamaica’s homicide rate in 2015 was 40.9 per 100,000. While it is alarmingly high, this means that the homicides are not the behavioural norm. Some 99,959.1 per 100,000 do not kill anyone. But it is those 40.9 who make the headlines and get talked about on the evening news and social media , and who are therefore portrayed as the “norm” in Jamaica. Youngsters looking on begin to feel that this is what is “expected” of them, and, as the science shows, behaviour follows what is expected by society.

Former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, incorporated these principles in his successful programme that saw a 56 per cent reduction in violent crime in New York City in the 1990s. The most prominent of his policy changes was the aggressive policing of low-level crime. He told the press in 1998: “Obviously graffiti and murder are two vastly different crimes. But they are part of the same continuum, and a climate that tolerates one is more likely to tolerate the other.”

Let’s use an illustration: If some kind donor granted you, say, US$1 billion with specific instructions to use it to “fight crime”, how would you spend that money? I’m sure your guess would be similar to mine: more police cars, guns, ammunition, prisons, penalties, more surveillance, etc. Now, let’s look at an alternative scenario: The donor grants the same US$1 billion, but his specific instructions are to use it to “create peace”. Right away, your thoughts move in the direction of building opportunities, community projects, mediation training and support, education, mentorship, regeneration programmes, youth upliftment programmes, sports programmes, apprenticeship schemes, etc. The advisors hired to help would be those with peace-building expertise. Based on research, even keeping streets and communities clean is a peace-keeping (crime-reducing) measure.

The challenge, of course, is that crime breeds fear, and whenever humans feel fear we want swift, bold and forceful action. To propose a calculated, logical and relatively long-term solution is unlikely to gain a lot of accolades. Calling for the police to “kill di dutty criminal dem”, however, will always be short-term if the breeding ground is untouched. The next “shotta” will take his place in short order — “badder” than the one before.

A fundamental benefit of a peace-creation campaign is that it will force us to get to the root causes of our crime problem. “Gang violence from the lottery scammers” is only the surface of the fundamental problem of the lack of opportunities, respect, justice, fairness, encouragement, and positive guidance faced by the majority of our people, especially our youth, in our current socio-economic system.

I remember some years ago reading a newspaper article where a journalist wrote about an interview he had with a gunman. The gunman described his life before and after switching to a life of crime. Before, when he was unemployed and begging on the streets, he was treated “like dawg”, he said. The store owner in his community chased him from in front of his store, and the entire community disrespected him. After he took on a life of crime he was amazed at the respect he got, albeit out of fear. People would obediently respond to his requests, ensure they were always polite to him. When he held up the store owner, who wet his pants during the incident, the store owner kept calling him “Sir”. He had never been called that before in his life. Even women who had previously dismissed him became attracted to him because of his new position of power. That gunman declared to the journalist that he would prefer to die with the gun rather than go back to where he had been before. Whenever I see marches by civil society to “stop the crime” or “put down the gun” I think of that article, and can’t help but wonder if the marchers have an alternative proposal for that gunman and others like him, which would provide them with a livelihood via legal and socially acceptable means .

The solution is to create paths for our underprivileged citizens to receive respect, justice, fair treatment, encouragement, guidance, and the dignity of earning and providing for themselves and their families. The solution lies in getting more members of society to see their potential and the good in them, even when they may not see it in themselves. As the Dalai Lama suggests, a more altruistic attitude is very relevant in today’s world. Rather than think of “others” and “them”, we should think of everyone as “we” and “us”.

Another benefit of a peace-creation strategy is that everyone can play a part and has the potential for a much greater momentum if there’s a comprehensive buy-in by our people. The process of creating peace is by nature a socially inclusive one, since the simplest gesture of showing respect, acknowledging someone’s presence, being polite, valuing them as a citizen, and caring about their well-being, regardless of their colour, class or creed, can be communicated by anyone. It can therefore incorporate and be supported by the entire population.

In contrast, the majority of Jamaicans hunker down when crime-fighting strategies are used, protecting themselves from the criminal elements with burglar bars, licensed firearms, security guards or systems, and rely on the police, the minister of national security and the prime minister to “deal wid it”. Even other ministries of government tend to view crime fighting as outside of their jurisdiction. A peace-creating culture will build a sense of responsibility in the psyche of our people. The teacher or parent will understand that their response to a child who doesn’t know an answer isn’t “Yuh wutliss and fool-fool”, but in peace-building fashion, something more like, “Nice effort, I’m sure if you apply yourself you will be better at it, keep trying.” A CEO will recognise that she contributes to the peace initiative by valuing the cleaner as someone who perfoms an important task in the workplace. The ministries of tourism and industry will realise that they play a vital role in job creation as part of the initiative. Public servants will develop a customer service attitude by respecting citizens.

According to the 2016 Global Peace Index, the 10 safest nations on the planet are Iceland, Denmark, Austria, New Zealand, Portugal, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, and Slovenia. More interesting is what these countries have in common. The report’s authors found that the most significant factors driving such high levels of safety include the educational levels of their populations, their levels of relative social welfare and wealth, and their effective criminal justice systems. Furthermore, they found that the governments in these countries refrain from carrying out any significant degree of State-sponsored violence and, as such, set a good example and the foundations for maintaining healthy relationships with their citizens. When applying the principles to the US (recognised as fairly dangerous for a First World, western nation), they found the same correlations for the safest states within the US.

In an interview with Kristiina Rintakoski, executive director of the Crisis Management Initiative, launched by Nobel Prize Winner Martti Ahtisaari, she was asked, “What does it take to create peace?” Her response was, “Fundamentally, the role of the people within conflicted societies is critical. You cannot import peace; it is created within the society.” She went on to say, “Concepts like democracy and human rights will always remain fairly abstract if you cannot feed your family. It is therefore important to ensure job creation, and protecting livelihoods occurs early in the process.”

As our economy expands and our employment rate continues to move in the right direction, we would be paddling along with the wave by uniting around a culture of care, respect, altruism, and justice to create sustainable peace in our Jamaica, land we love.

Dr Carey Wallace is a social psychologist and learning & development consultant in Wales, UK. Send comments to the Observer ordrcareywallace@gmail.com.