Security summit aims at strategy to counter violence
MEDICAL PRACTITIONER Dr Sherridene Lee says a security summit will provide scientific insight on how criminals are formed and how to kill their habits and redirect them from a life of crime.
This issue will be discussed at the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (MBCCI) Security Summit on April 6 and 7 under the theme ‘Collective Security – Unity in Action’, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.
Speaking at Thursday’s launch, Lee, a member of the MBCCI and managing director at I-doc Wellness Concierge, said crime producers responsible for the mayhem in St James and across the island developed their bad habits unabated over an extended period of time.
“For the first day, we will be taking you on a journey so you can see how these violence producers are created,” said Lee.
“As with medicine, our aim is to be healthy and disease-free. So even if somebody is born with a disease, it takes time in the mother’s womb to actually develop that illness. and as with crime, criminals are created over time.”
She stated that by providing scientific methodology on the DNA of criminals, educators and other facilitators such as the HEART/NSTA Trust, the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force and clinical psychologists will share strategies on how to refocus these individuals from a life of crime into productive and worthwhile citizens.
“They will share best practices on how to help prevent crime or prevent us from developing violence producers, even if they are born with criminal intent,” Lee shared.
According to data compiled by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Statistics and Information Management Unit, 364 people were murdered between January 1 and March 29 this year. Those figures indicate a marginal decline by 12, or 3.2 per cent, when compared against the corresponding period of 2021, when there were 376 reported murders.
The Area One Division of the JCF, which consists of Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland, saw 128 of the murders committed across the island so far this year, with St James recording 68; Westmoreland, 36; and Hanover and Trelawny, 12 each.
Two weeks ago, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Youth, launched a social services fair islandwide that is aimed at reconnecting with neglected youth in stigmatised communities.
That initiative was developed as a result of instances in which young people are fingered as violence producers, or as victims of their activities.
Acknowledging that the level of criminality and violence across the country is Jamaica’s biggest and most significant social problem, Chang said many young people, males in particular, who are feeling rejected and detached from the normal range of social services are among those responsible for the mayhem.
“We are changing the need for young men to rely on criminal gang activities to feel empowered,” Chang said then.
The National Social Services Fair is designed to bring social services to residents living in unplanned communities and to reconnect with at-risk youth by accessing the services of the St James Health Services; Restorative Justice Unit; Community Security and Safety Branch of the JCF; Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency; National Parenting Commission; and the National Council on Drug Abuse.
0 Comment