KINGSTON, Jamaica – Law enforcers are reporting that although many children fall victim to the monster of crime, lots of children are also perpetrators of some of the most vicious acts playing out on the island’s streets.

This was disclosed during a digital press briefing by the Jamaica Constabulary Force on Tuesday.

Commissioner of Police, Major Antony Anderson, revealed that so far this year, children have been charged with 875 significant crimes in Jamaica, 79 of those being murder charges.

“There have been 79 murder charges and 66 for shooting. A total of 175 children have been charged with rape over the period. There have been 256 charges for breaches of the firearms act, 175 for break-ins, 89 for robbery and 65 for aggravated assault,” Commissioner Anderson said.

“In recent weeks, we’ve been dissecting the crime figures and looking more closely at perpetrators and victims. When we examine children as the perpetrators of major crimes, some concerns emerge,” the top cop continued. “These individuals if we do not act collectively are getting into an early career of violence and crime. We are bringing this to the nation’s attention because as a society we have to decide how we’re going to save them.”

Anderson added that the pandemic of violence in the country is affecting the island’s children and expressed that they are not “merely victims of violence” but far too many times children and adolescents are the perpetrators themselves.”