Dear Editor,

The privilege was mine to present on ‘Vision 2030 and the Jamaica Stock Exchange’ at the JSE’s recent Investment and Capital Markets Conference. The realisation of this vision of making Jamaica ‘the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business’ has been on my mind ever since.

Part of that appeal is making our environment safe for its citizens. In light of rampant commentary in the public space regarding crime, its root causes and to whom/what blame should be attributed, please consider my brief input on the matter.

On February 23, 2017, I was privy to a presentation by the esteemed Dr Herbert Gayle, PhD on ‘Why boys join gangs’. It centred on seven points, the first of which was the broken family structure. Other points included economics, protection, revenge and a low conviction rate in Jamaica.

The influence of music was not among the seven points noted. It therefore seems prudent that (among other things) the profit needs to be removed from crime and the speed at which justice is administered be hastened in order to snap the branches of criminality. Banning any genre of music or any particular artiste does not appear to be the solution.

Addressing the root causes should aim to take into account Dr Gayle’s extensive research which speaks to the glaring issue of parental absence and abuse in the homes of our youth. It was therefore heartening to learn of Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ comments regarding Jamaica’s new ‘smart approach’ to crime, which will see us no longer infringing on the rights of our brothers and sisters across this nation.

My hope is that this segues into fixing the family structure, as a supplement to cutting off the flow of guns into the island and upgrading the police force. For in failing to do that, as per Dr Gayle, ‘we are preparing ourselves for war’.

Ryan Strachan

rstrachan@gmail.com