Rehabilitate vice rather than battling its fruits

THE EDITOR, Madam;

Maybe the media will not be able to keep track of the number of condemnatory words used against the resurgence of head-wagging rapes and brutal murders in the country. Words, that already melted like butter against the sun, only to leave a dry national acceptance after the tears have dried – until another round of same. Renewed passion and fervour are hardly likely to yield any change that former denunciation against crime did not. Yet the reason is quite simple. For most Jamaicans, crime and violence are considered trophies – something that engenders a sense of pride to the regular man in the street.

Generally, people do not boast about being a bad man if they do not think it’s something to be admired and safeguard. Bragging about badness and wicked-man activities is a regular feature in the Jamaican life – for bad man, ironically, is respected. If you do not possess the temerity to be a bad man, you are sent with shopping lists to the shops to do the shopping. Put a murderer behind bars, and he will be there bragging how his murderous adventures were responsible for him landing there as a criminal star. So instead of the prisons putting a restraint on his criminal records, they extend and magnify his pride in his own mind.

Thus, rehabilitation is seen as an enemy that deprives him of what the regular Jamaican values most in him – his ruthlessness and celebrated badness. Many will keep the torch alight to validate and maintain their own important status as wicked men. Therefore, the real enemy at play in most crime and violence that happen in Jamaica is not the horror that makes it in the media, but the warped sense of self-esteem, that being considered heartless and cold, is a blessing to treasure.

Obliterating the pride of vice is important is more important than battling its fruits and branches.

HOMER SYLVESTER

New York