ANCHOVY, St James — Prime Minister Andrew Holness is calling on supporters of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to affirm necessary changes that the Government it leads will be taking to deal with crime and violence in the country.

“As people who support a political party, I want you to begin to think about how we are going to control violence in the society. I want you to start to think about giving support for policies that are going to deal directly with violence in the society,” stated Holness who noted that peace and prosperity are the message of the party.

Holness was addressing a St James Southern Constituency Conference at Anchovy High School on Sunday in St James.

The party is heading into its 80th annual conference on November 19 and a local government election due by next February.

Holness said the Government is going to launch some new policies that will run counter, in many instances, to cultural practices such as corporal punishment.

“We cannot continue to beat our children into submission if we expect to have a society that can regulate itself without violence. Parents have to learn how to reason with their children to modify their behaviour so that you don’t need police to always be telling them what to do, so that they follow rules because it is internalised and not because it is enforced. Until more people in this audience say it is true, it won’t happen,” stated Holness.

Holness also spoke of the new and upcoming Domestic Violence Act that gives greater protection to all women from abusive men.

“We need a system in place that when you identify someone in your family or your community that is showing a propensity to use violence — meaning that everything that differs is to violence — we need to have a system where you can report them, not just to the police but to have social work and psychological intervention to talk to them about why they feel so angry and aggressive,” stated Holness.

In the meantime Holness told supporters that the message of the Jamaica Labour Party is oftentimes delivered as a message of prosperity, which is important, and not so much about peace.

“Our society needs peace in the same way that it needs prosperity. We must be the party of peace and prosperity. Jamaica is not at war, Jamaica has political stability,” stated Holness.