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Overview of Country

Jamaica is an island nation in the West Indies. The capital of Jamaica is Kingston. It lies about
480 miles south of Florida and is the third largest island in the Caribbean Sea. The only two island that are larger that is Cuba and Hispaniola. (The World Book Encyclopedia vol 11) Jamaica was inhabited by the Arawak Indians, who were the first people to live in Jamaica named the island Xaymaca, which means land of wood and water. They based their communites on fishing, hunting, and small scale cultivation of cassava. Due to the appearance of the Spanish the Arawak Indians disappeared in 70-80 years. The disruption of the economic system, new diseases, and migration decimated the population. When the Spanish took over the island they were disappointed with the absence of gold on the island the Spanish used Jamaica as a base for supporting the conquest of the Americas, with its treasures of gold and silver.
(www.jamaicans.com)
In 1655, Jamaica was captured by the British expedition led by Admirals Penn and Venables and they gain possession in 1670. It was very little the Spanish did to defend it from the British because of lack of gold and silver. They fight African slaves which they called Maroons. The
British and Maroons signed a peace treaty in 1738. Sugar became the major crop, and the island ranked as it’s most important slave market in the Western Hemisphere. In the late 1830’s, the
British Parliament freed the slaves. (www.jamaicans.com) In 1865, disputes between the planters and their workers resulted in a peasant revolt called
Morant Bay rebellion,which was led by Paul Bogle. Jamaicans had elected a governing body, the House of Assembly, to help the British rule the island. After the revolt Jamaica became a crown colony, governed by Britain. In 1930 Jamaican labor leaders urged British Parliament to
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give Jamaica people more political power. The British In 1944 gave Jamaica a new constitution that provided for some self-government. Later in 1962, Jamaica became fully independent nation and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Jamaica joined the United Nations in 1962 and joined the Organizations of American States in 1969. (www.rism.org)

Statement of the Problems

There are a couple of problems that Jamaica faces on a everyday basics. One of greatest social problems facing Jamaica at this time is violent crimes in over the past two decades, Jamaica has experienced an increase in homicides and violent crimes. Several attempts have been made throughout the years to reduce the number of violent crimes on the island, but mainly have been short-term measures. And aimed predominantly at increasing police mobility and firepower and have ultimately proved to be unsustainable. (www.jamaica-gleaner.com) Drugs are another problem that Jamaica is faced with everyday. Although the perception is that
Marijuana or ganja is freely available in Jamaica it is illegal just like in the United States. But doesn’t mean that you won’t see it on the streets on Jamaica. (www.jamaicans.com/tourist.com)
You can found people on the side of the street smoking marijuana and selling to the tourist who may come thought the streets on the tour bus touring. It is one of their number crops and money marker’s besides rum and sugar and cloths. With is being said no wonder the crime rate is one of the highest in the world when you have drugs you will always have high levels of violent crime’s. The government is working on ways to keep the drugs off the streets and out of the young children hands. A lot of this is based on the fact they there is a low level of education and
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jobs available of the people of Jamaica so they have to choose our ways to make money to survive. Conceptual Framework

The island of 2.5 million people which is slightly smaller then Connecticut has on of the hightest crime rates in the world. (www.bbcnews.com) There were 1,674 murders in 2005, up from
1,471 murders in 2004. The cycle of killings are on both sides policeman have been killed in the line of duty and people seem to think that policeman have been trigger happy overwhelmed the increase of violence and not being able to receive more man power to stop these crimes. How crimes are being committed is because the inner cities have area what they call states within a state which they pay no rent or utility and energy bills and a local don is called a President because it makes the rules for the area. According to a CIA report, deteriorating economic conditions during the 1970’s led the to the rising of gang violence as gangs affiliated to major political parties, evolved in powerful organized crime networks involved in international drug smuggling and money laundering. (www.bbsnews.com)
Jamaica is a island that is has been a transshipment port for Colombian cocaine. Most of the cocaine and drugs that are smuggled though Jamaica is smuggled out and sold. The smugglers trade guns for marijuana and cocaine and this makes the island awash with guns. Being that there is high rate of poverty due to the fact that the unemployment rate is in double-digits doesn’t help
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matters. There is a high level of illiteracy, teenage pregnancy and nearly every household is involved in some kind of criminal activity, major or minor. (www.bbsnews.com) The young kids fight gang wars while the older men travel to the city robbing and stealing and the women often carry drugs to the US and UK. There are more than 300 Jamaican women in prison right now due to the fact they were caught trying to smuggle drugs are weapons to the UK. There are
11,000 policemen and 2,500 equipped frontline fighters are engaged in fighting crimes on the island but have drop down in number due to corruption within the policeman system.

Types of Solutions

Jamaica needs leadership to rid their island of drugs and violence. Prime Minister Bruce Golding is trying to implement some dramatic anti-crime and corruption programs to help the island.
Jamacia has called for the establishment of a single independent body that will investigate all cases of abuse and unlawful conduct by members of the security forces in Jamaica. (www.elsie- news.over-blog.com) They decide that they would installed closed-circuit TV cameras on the island to have monitor crime on the island at all times. They place these cameras in areas where they were high levels of crimes and those resort cities of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios along the north coast.(www.elise-news.over-blog.com) In 2005 Jamaican police called for a wage increase saying that their 425 a month wasn’t enough to be putting their life on the everyday. The government made the Jamaican Constabulary Force (JCF) a part of internal security operations along with the regular police. The St. James parish decides to cut back on some of their crimes by regularly deploying troops as well as police officers to a number of
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locations. The Prime Minster Bruce Golding says one solution to not to so much beef up police in the resort area but the rural areas where the shanty towns or located. On June the Jamaican government hired Justin Felice, formerly of the Northern Ireland Police Service was put to lead the anti-corruption unit in the Jamaican Constabulary Forces.(www.elise-news.over-blog.com).
Prime Minster said that any public officials involved in corruption will be impeached and removed from office. Those are a few things solutions they believe that will work. I believe that if they set up programs for those who are without jobs and education it would help a lot. Most of the problems they are having or those people without jobs and lack of education to get one. The children should be in school and not out doing violent crimes to make ends meets for the parents who have lack of education. Jamaica has stated several programs for those young children to have a better outlook on their life in Jamaica. They are trying to reform their justice system. They last time they seen economic growth was in 1990. Economic growth overtime will bring about a reprieve to many Jamaicans, as overtime employment opportunities will increase substantially. They need the government to ensure that not just a few of people benefit from the economic expansion but the ordinary working class Jamaicans get help also. They need to make dramatic improvements in housing and education. (www.jamaicans.com/articles). They feel that the communities need to get more involved. They just can’t sit back on the sidelines and watch all the criminal’s takeover. Jamaica is trying to sever the links between politics and violence. The government needs to be provided, with someone who has expertise to come and formulate effective and comprehensive security policies for citizens. Jamaica has even received help from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB. IDB said that they want to help because they have financed a number of operations in a diverse number of counties. They have approved loans in
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excess of $70 million to finance citizen security operations in countries in the Caribbean.

Conclusion

In conclusion to the crime and violence in Jamaica to win the public support, strategies to fight crime and violence must focus on the people of Jamaica and not on statistical reports; on rebuilding community structures though which you have to deploy policies and programs, and on rebuilding the moral authority of political leadership, which must take and pursue tough and sometimes unpopular decisions. The solutions to the problems of Crime and Violence in Jamaica need to be viewed not in the context of Jamaica per say but in the global context. Jamaica
Constabulary Force from time to time is use long hard policing and the various formation of special squads have not really solved the medium to long term problem of crime and violence in
Jamaica but have been only short term solutions which have had adverse effects on the country’s prospects for Tourism, Investment and other important aspects of the country’s economic development. Drug’s plays a big part in the problem with the crime and violence rate being so high in Jamaica also. Jamaicans have been calling for the legalization of ganja for years but for the time-being they will be no change on the ambivalent attitude of the Jamaican authorities with respect to ganja. They continue to fight against the production and trade to keep the US happy. Finally, Jamaica cannot reach its potential unless numerous security issues have been solved, not simply contained. Gang violence, weather politically motivated or, more likely drug related, is part of the daily life that has been for a long time, been has been contain to the rural neighborhoods of the island, far from the tourist beaches and resorts. Jamaica knows that
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they have a real problem with crime, violence and drugs. With the work of the community and the government in Jamaica they may be able to turn the island of Jamaica back to a paradise not just for the tourist but for the people of Jamaica.