THE RECENTLY-opened Centre for Studies in Public Safety and Justice at the University of the West Indies has its work cut out for it.
In the face of the country's horrendous murder rate and the perpetual cry for justice, there is hardly an area of greater urgency for focused research on a practical problem than this area of public safety and justice. Of course, the country needs more than theoretical formulations, but practical solutions to one of its most pressing problems. These solutions will have to be rooted in empirical data.
According to criminologist and senior lecturer in the Department of Government, Anthony Harriott, the centre was given its name to emphasise the clear link between public safety and justice. Seeking to control crime without greater regard for justice is a futile exercise, he points out. This is a common sense view that is well understood by ordinary Jamaicans.
We do not expect the centre to rehash well-documented theories for already a great deal of research work on crime, justice and related issues has been done both at home and abroad. So the new centre will house a critical mass of researchers who will be expected to build on what has been already done.
The establishment of the centre underscores Jamaica's and the UWI's position to make a unique contribution internationally to the understanding of public safety and justice issues. This country has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world, and a well-documented link between crime and the political culture. The operations of the security forces, as instruments of crime control and perpetrators of injustice, also provide rich material for research and the shaping of public policy.
The cry for justice has accompanied public protests and upheavals since the Morant Bay uprising and now makes the news on a daily basis. Public safety has also been seriously compromised.
The centre's research, conducted in the exceptional social laboratory of this country, should provide rich and important dividends in crafting and reshaping public policy for Jamaica, the Caribbean and further afield.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
