Finding a solution to crime

Delroy Chuck

The horrible and strangling tentacles of crime and the fear of crime have once again gripped the nation. The stories of violence, murder and mayhem are recounted, reported and repeated daily. The horror, anguish and heartbreak occur in far too many homes and communities, as the authorities are unable to control the escalating crime problem and to provide any credible, successful and sustainable solution to resolve the crisis and ease the people's fear and despair.

Surely, the tried and unsuccessful measures of harsher punishment, the regular suspension and trampling of human rights and freedoms, the sinister labelling and criminalizing of young people, the harassing and brutalising of inner city communities, and the use and demonstration of superior police force, etc., have not worked, cannot work and only prepare the stage for even greater and more vicious criminality.

What is surely needed is a solution to the continuing cycle of violence, the lengthening chain of injustice, the prolonged practice of state brutality and inhumanity, and inevitably the vortex of decay, destruction and criminality.

Well thinking and deeply concerned citizens feel passionately that the real solution lies in the sure and speedy punishment to criminal wrongdoers.

Some even argue that the return of capital punishment and the lynching of a few murderers, robbers and rapists would quickly curb and control the crime wave. People, they argue, fear hanging or other severe punishment, and thus punishment is the surest deterrence to criminal wrongdoing.

Unfortunately, research and the history of judicial punishment have not supported the instinctive and primitive urge for harsher punishment to control crime. No conclusive research or evidence has ever shown any direct relation between crime in the society and the severity of punishment meted out to criminals.

In fact, when it comes to punishment and the type of punishment imposed, the truth is that nothing works. Men are punished and sent to prison, not to deter crime, as universally it doesn't, but to show society's emphatic disapproval of criminal conduct and to give the offender his just desert.

Punishment therefore has its place in the criminal justice system, but it is a mistake to believe that harsh and severe punishment is the single, or even the primary, answer to crime.

Then, we have the social engineers who believe that men can be moulded and shaped into good, upright citizens. Educate our people properly, it is proposed, and they will behave decently. Provide a good education and the educated will solve society's ills.

Where education fails, the legislative process can be used to pass laws to curb human action and coerce good deeds. Thus, education and the process of law are seen as the primary tools to engineer human personality, behaviour and character.

The social scientists believe man is a malleable animal and his abnormal and criminal behaviour are simply the failure of the social process. Regrettably, the great hope of the social sciences that they could solve social problems, such as crime, has surely not been realised.

Perhaps, the moralists should have an answer and no doubt if the moral fibre of the society could be strengthened and maintained, then the social well-being of our country could be assured. But, how do we cause people to surrender and yield to the moral law and comply with divine guidance?

If we could find a way, there is no doubt we would have a crime free, happy and peaceful society. Yet, the churches and moral leaders have failed in their noble mission and the people are now more detached from the moral law than at any other time in the history of man.

To be sure, it is useless trying to find a single, comprehensive solution to crime - it does not exist. Every society will have crime. The real issue is how to keep it within manageable and tolerable levels.

While I appreciate the role of punishment, education, morality and cultural-sociological factors, whatever those are, in controlling crime, I am more convinced that the economic well-being of the citizen is more likely to contribute to the reduction of crime than any other factor.

I take issue therefore with those who belie and deny the utmost importance of economic growth and development. In virtually every country experiencing real economic growth and expansion, there is a comparative decrease in serious and violent crimes. Indeed, I would argue that government's primary role is to generate economic progress and improvement, as everything else falls into place once that happens.

Economic prosperity solves a lot of problems. Jobs and opportunities breed hope, give real alternative to criminal violence, allow citizens greater access to a better quality of life, more freedom of choice and the better enjoyment of their rights and freedoms.

That is not to argue that poverty is the cause of crime or that prosperity will totally solve the crime problem. The argument is simply that where a country experiences sustained and significant economic growth, there is a corresponding reduction in social ills, including crime.

Moreover, the solution to crime is not singular; it has to been dealt with plurally, on several fronts. Foremost in the strategy is for a complete overhaul of the police force. Thus, I argued last week that community policing is the way forward and, indeed, the Police Force pays a lot of lip service to this new method of policing. However, the force is not committed to community policing.

The PERF report to the American Chamber of Commerce highlights that even though the written Corporate Strategy embraces and encourages community policing, the actual strategy and resources to make it work are simply not in place (see pages 65-67). Without doubt, a heavy burden rests on the police to engage the society in a workable strategy to prevent and reduce crime.

It is true that communities can give the lead, yet it is more appropriate for the police force to organise meetings, especially in the inner cities, to interact with the church, civil society, social groups, business communities, voluntary and charitable interests, government agencies, neighbourhood associations, alleged wrongdoers, etc.

It is through this interaction that the police can get to know the communities better and undertake a more proactive role to prevent crime. It is this type of policing inter alia that will provide the path to an effective and successful solution to crime.

Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by e-mail at delchuck@ hotmail.com.

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