MONTEGO BAY, St James — fifteen-year-old Gabrienna Roach is calling for harsher penalties for serious offences as part of efforts to tame the crime monster, which has left her petrified to leave home and enjoy social amenities lest she becomes another crime statistics.

Roach made her appeal during a recent Jamaica Observer forum held at its offices in Montego Bay in recognition of Child Month 2022 being celebrated under the theme, “Listen Up, Children’s Voices Matter”.

“I believe that the crime rate is really high and I think the Government needs to do more in terms of sanctions, because I believe that if you have more sanctions, say, for example, you are caught with a gun and you know that the sentence now is 15 years… I think if the Government put out more sanctions and tell the people if you do this, this is what will happen, I believe that they will take heed,” said the Westmoreland’s Little London High School girl.

Stating that fear has discouraged her from spending time outside of her home, Roach, though ‘not in full support of capital punishment,’ believes that it may be needed.

“I think that is very brutal, but if that is what needs to be done for the people to understand that they need to stop the crime, then it needs to be done,” she said.

Likewise, student at the Anchovy High School in St James, Thadine Tinglin, said she experiences paranoia due to the high levels of crime in her parish.

“I’m not able to go places without looking over my shoulder [because] I am wondering if somebody is going to jump out and attack me,” she said.

“I don’t want to be walking around and looking over my shoulder or have it in the back of my head that probably this man is carrying a knife…he might stop and stab me. So as a child, it’s very concerning and it bothers, I think, all of us. Even if you feel like you can defend yourself, you still feel powerless against these criminals,” said the grade 11 student.

According to statistics provided by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), as at May 14, some 383 serious crimes had been reported across the western parishes of Westmoreland, Hanover, St James and Trelawny since the start of the year. Leading the region are St James and Westmoreland with 169 and 138 serious crimes, respectively, followed by Trelawny with 39 and Hanover 37.

Though Tinglin believes that the Government has made efforts to cauterise crime in western Jamaica, she is hoping to see smarter tactics being implemented as criminals “are coming up with new ideas and ways to just kill people”.

“It is not like there aren’t measures put in place to lower the crime rate,” Tinglin said, while pointing out that the Government’s usual tactic of deploying additional security personnel to troubled communities only gives off a false sense of security.

“When the Government think it is working, you have these criminals probably somewhere in the bush having a little congregation and saying, ‘the soldiers are walking this way, let’s create another path to go out in the world and commit crime’. So even though the government stresses a situation so much, the criminals – I don’t want to say they’re smart – but they’re really smart,” Tinglin explained.

She, too, joined in on the call for stricter penalties for illegal firearms.

“I think it should be a life sentence because why do you have a gun? If it’s not licensed then you don’t need to have a gun,” said Tinglin, in reference to the recent comments from Prime Minister Andrew Holness and National Security Minister Horace Change who have publicly called for and defended their plans to implement legislation that imposes a life sentence for individuals found with illegal firearms.

However, Cambridge High School’s Oriel Spence believes that crime can be reduced if the Jamaican education sector benefits from a reform.

“Students need to have more learning [opportunities], so there needs to be more schools in Jamaica for students who are not financially stable,” she said.

Stating that a lot of Jamaicans turn to a life of crime because of financial instability which further results in the lack of educational opportunities, Muschett High School’s Shania Norman is urging the Government to pay attention to the education sector.

“I have met students who have a lot of potential, but based on their family background — being poor and not able to afford college funds — they have to start working their own money or even send themselves to school. So my concern is, why can’t the Government find a certain amount of students and help them? We see students committing crimes and you wonder why are they doing it, but we don’t know what they’re going through. I think that if the Government stood ground and try to interact with those students or even the parents, I think the country itself would be a better place,” Spence said.

When questioned on the efficiency of the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), which is mandated to provide for the country’s needy and vulnerable students, Spence explained that not all needy students are being reached by the programme.

“You know that with PATH they have to visit your home and see the conditions, some parents get the house passed down from generations, so they can fix up the place. Some people even when the place is not proper, they still don’t get the chance to [get] PATH benefits, so I would say they aren’t doing as much as they can,” said Spence.