Dear Editor,

As I hear people talking about P J Patterson suggesting an independent crime commission, similar to the the electoral commission of Jamaica, I can’t help but think that most of the intelligentsia of Jamaica are pursuing palliative remedies to crime instead of corrective solutions.

Countless studies have shown that people’s economic standing is correlated to the likelihood that they get involved in gang-related and violent crimes. For example a study by Doidge, Higgins, Delfabbro and Segal in 2017 near out the point.

About 60 academic papers support that greater inequality leads to more violence measured by homicide rated says, Richard Wilkinson, author of The Spirit Level.

In 2015, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) found that Jamaica was running the most austere budget in the world — with a primary surplus target of 7.5 per cent due to its International Monetary Fund agreement. As well, Government’s interest payments on the debt and austerity had brought public investment to a low. Is everybody living in an ivory tower and still thinking there will not be effects of the poor bearing the majority of the burden and reaping minimum rewards.

General Consumption Tax in Jamaica is high at 16.5 per cent. This is a tremendous burden for the populace to bear, worse knowing that it is being squandered as indicated by scandals such as the Petrojam debacle, and it has occurred many times with both political parties.

My argument is attack the causal problem of poor governance. Look at the ineffectiveness of the Integrity Commission.

Jamaica has more than enough wealth to ensure that everyone lives a decent life, yet many live in subhuman conditions. I don’t believe in socialism, but I believe that no human being should be impoverished to the point at which feeding and educating themselves is a major struggle. It would be cheaper to ensure a minimum standard of living for all than to spend on the cost of crime and violence. Even brute force, such as the state of emergency, will only work for about two years before a new breed of criminals emerge that is resistant to the state of emergency.

Create good governance and the crime problem will diminish to a mere pebble; right now it is a monster. Revenge and retribution tactics will only contain the monster, but won’t kill it.

Brian Plummer

brianplummer@yahoo.com