Dissing rule of law
Published:Wednesday | November 17, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Dennie Quill, Contributor
THE RECENT news that Jamaicans top the number of criminals in United Kingdom jails was quite embarrassing, although not surprising. Added to that is the fact that more than 1,500 of our compatriots are in United States federal prisons and will likely be deported at the end of their sentences.
From time to time, we hear of Jamaicans incarcerated in jails from Canada to the Cayman Islands to Costa Rica. Question: Are Jamaicans the most violent, lawless people on Earth?
For answers to this question, I turned to the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index which is a new tool designed by WJP to gauge the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law. The WJP released its Rule of Law Index in Washington, DC, last month.
According to the WJP website, the index consists of 10 factors and 49 sub-factors, organised under the following set of four principles:
The government, its officials and agents are accountable under the law;
The laws are clear, publicised, stable and fair, and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property;
The process by which the laws are enacted, administered and enforced is accessible, fair and efficient; and
Access to justice is provided by competent, independent, and ethical adjudicators, attorneys or representatives, and judicial officers who are of sufficient number, have adequate resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.
How did Jamaica rank? I wondered about this as I started my search of country profiles. I was kind of relieved to see that we were not among the 35 countries rated in the index. But as soon as I started to exhale, I came across the results for Latin American and the Caribbean.
While the region was outstanding in protecting freedom of thought, countries in Latin American and the Caribbean had the highest crime rate in the world, with the five-year homicide rate standing at an alarming 69 per 100,000. This high crime rate was believed to be related to the generally poor performance of the criminal-investigative and adjudication systems in the region.
Police investigations in Latin American and the Caribbean ranked among the worse in the world. The report cited Mexico, as example, where 93 per cent of burglaries are never solved.
Another factor considered was the extent to which the criminal-justice system was affected by corruption and improper influence by connected persons in both private and public sectors.
In reacting to years of grisly killings and the horrific violence and bloodshed in our country, we have stressed from time to time in this space that if regulatory enforcement and the judicial system are not efficient and effective in capturing, prosecuting and punishing the perpetrators of crime, peace will continue to elude us as a nation.
Corrupt officials
We don't really need the WJP Index to confirm that we have a justice system that is under attack from well-connected and highly armed criminals, and that it is further undermined by corrupt officials. The result is that the guilty often escapes justice and the innocent are often killed.
It is this Jamaican, who blatantly disrespects law and order, and who is used to escaping detection and punishment, that is now planted in foreign lands. As they continue in their lawless ways, they are invariably caught, prosecuted and punished.
So the truth is out. How do we repair the damage? I believe we must put restoration of law and order firmly on the national agenda. The strategy to combat the grave threat to national security caused by marauding criminals must start with a zero-tolerance approach to lawlessness.
Yes, it is hard to respect the rule of law, for its restrictions and obligations do not come easily either to those who rule or those who are being ruled. But it has to be done.