There has been recent controversy in the media concerning differences of opinion between Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) and other groups and individuals, including myself, regarding adjustments they have recommended for changes in the law regarding the age of consent to engage in sexual intercourse.

The core of this conflict is the recommendation that a defence in law be established that allows for 13-and 14-year-olds to have sex with adults, providing they are no more than five years older than the child.

This, needless to say, is a sensitive issue with strong views on both sides.

I have read the comments surrounding the debate and wish to firstly say that it is important to understand that because people differ in their views on fundamental issues it doesn’t make any of the parties bad people.

So although I disagree with JFJ on some fundamental issues, I am sure they are good people with good intentions, who I just happen to disagree with.

Many times where you sit determines where you get your information and that determines the opinions you will form.

I am a police officer, I see the victims of crime. So my opinion emanates from my experience.

JFJ’s most direct contact is from people who claim to be victims of agents of the State, so that forms their opinion.

I am sure that on this subject, we both want to protect Jamaica’s women and children.

The position taken by JFJ is intended to protect young men who have consensual sex with persons who could be considered peers in a normal society.

Oftentimes teenagers’ lives are disrupted because of consensual sex. They get dragged through the court system, and I have actually seen a young man sent to prison for three years for a woman he impregnated when she was 15, a woman he eventually married and had a second child with before he was tried and convicted.

In a normal society, these are situations that we have to consider. Jamaica has not been a normal society since 1974. We introduced gangs as part of our political process. That culture has led to gangs being primary governors of many inner-city gully banks and informal communities.

The police force has done an incredible job fighting gang culture and gang domination, often with opposition from human rights groups, such as JFJ. One day, maybe with their help, gangs could be a thing of the past.

Great threats in world history have been defeated to a point where they no longer exist. FARK in Brazil and the Irish Republican Army in Ireland are two that come to mind. They were political, so it’s a little different. But then there is the continual disintegration of the mafia that indicates it could one day be a gang of the past.

At this point, however, Jamaica still remains in the grips of gang domination. Many communities are told who to vote for. They determine who the contractor hires for road projects. They also decide who first gets to sleep with our fellow citizens’ children once they start to develop into women. This typically starts to occur between 12 and 14 years of age. The offenders are often between 18 and 35 years. However, there is a strong likelihood that they fall between 17 and 20 years, as this is the primary age of the shooters.

The victims are often passed around the gang. Their parents are powerless unless they move from the community. They will either be burnt out or killed if they oppose. That is not remotely consensual.

The victims rarely are willing to sacrifice their families by becoming complainants. The only control mechanism available to the police is that the victims cannot give consent. So once the police can scientifically prove that sex occurred with the 18, 19 or any age adult the police can present a case that can be prosecuted.

This is the reality of the Jamaican citizen who lives in zones controlled by gangs. There is no anatomic difference between people who live in gang-controlled zones versus people who don’t. We need to stop treating them like they are a section of Jamaica that is somehow different in respect of their need to be protected. It can’t be that we pass a law for the greater good and accept that they will be negatively impacted.

If you don’t have a solution for gang domination, then every consideration made by you, as a group, needs to consider how it will affect the people who live in gang-dominated communities. Victims of gangs cannot be a footnote.

All that matters is the creation of a Jamaica where a gang member can no longer live in a community where he can send for a child for the purpose of having sex. If a law is to be created regarding any change in the judicial system the first consideration must be the protection of the slum dweller, and more importantly, the protection of the children who live in these slums.

This is a war many others and myself are fighting. Jamaicans for Justice have to join this fight because quite frankly they are standing in our way.

There are parents in the ghettos of Jamaica who fear the physical developments of their female children. This is because they know that once they show signs of becoming a woman the predators begin to turn up. Can you imagine living like this?

What has Jamaicans for Justice done to change this reality? Laws cannot be passed in a vacuum. We have to consider how they affect everyone. Not just the majority, but the minority as well.

Feedback: drjasonamckay@gmail.com