MANDEVILLE, Manchester — With reports of increasing violence among children, there is a call here for greater use of restorative justice programmes targeting the parish’s youngsters.

Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck, pointing the growing number of incidents, said violence in schools is giving Jamaica a “bad name”.

“Sadly these things [acts of violence] having occurred and, regrettably, we see videos of these occurrences, which are playing not only islandwide but internationally, and giving Jamaica and the schools in Jamaica an extremely bad name,” he told his audience at Church Teachers’ College (CTC) in Mandeville on Friday.

The justice minister, in addressing a dispute resolution forum – organised by custos of Manchester Garfield Green – addressing parents, educators and children, reiterated his view that schools have become battlefields.

He continued: “[N]ot only [are] schoolchildren fighting one another, but regrettably children are fighting teachers and teachers are also fighting back.

“This is not what schools are supposed to be; schools are where we really cater to our children, educate and engineer them into becoming good adult citizens, but when there are conflicts, when there is tension, when there is fear in the schools, it is almost impossible for our children to learn properly,” said Chuck.

He emphasised that the violence in schools is as “a result of the battlefield in the homes and in the communities”.

“Children are learning what they see and families are fighting, abusing and brutalising one another. The children then feel that is how you resolve problems,” said Chuck.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Justice have partnered to have alternative dispute resolution personnel being involved in conflict resolution in schools.

Head of the Manchester police, Superintendent Shane McCalla, lauded the restorative justice programmes which he said have remedied some conflicts not only in schools.

“It is one of the initiatives that really assists us in our everyday fight when it comes to reducing the numbers and the acts of violence… There are a number of issues that if it wasn’t for restorative justice they would have ended up in death,” he said.

Custos of Manchester Garfield Green said the restorative justice programme is vital to resolving disputes.

“All of us are exposed to disputes in one way or the other. We are either primary, secondary or tertiary victims of disputes, and it can affect our emotions, so it is very prudent that we reach out to the young ones as well,” he said.

For his part, Chuck said that the number of domestic abuse cases is at a crisis level.

“We have too many cases of domestic abuse, it is indeed a crisis. The number of spouses who come to the family court regrettably are increasing, because families are being abused… Many, especially women, don’t regret these beatings and conflicts that they have, because they depend on the man for support…” he said.

“Thousands of cases come to victim service every week, it is the same with restorative justice. When matters are referred to restorative justice 80 per cent of them are settled, and when they are referred by the courts over 90 per cent of them are settled. The problem is enough cases are not being referred to restorative justice,” charged Chuck.