Children under fire
Data reveals more than 150 under-17s murdered, thousands sexually assaulted in last 5 years
Published:Thursday | May 1, 2025 | 12:14 PMLivern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter
More than 150 children under age 17 were murdered while just over 4,000 were sexually assaulted in Jamaica over the five-year period that ended last year, the national coordinator for Child Month activities has disclosed.
May is celebrated every year as Child Month, which will be observed this year under the theme ‘Act Now! Stand Against Child Abuse and Exploitation’.
Approximately 500,000 students traverse Jamaica’s roadways daily, according to Dr Kasan Troupe, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information.
Between 2020 and 2024, a total of 168 children 17 years old and under were killed across Jamaica, while another 351 suffered gunshot injuries, Nicole Patrick Shaw, chairman of the National Child Month Committee (NCMC), disclosed yesterday, citing police statistics.
The data showed, too, that 1,439 children were victims of rape, while 2,576 were the victims of other sexual offences, mainly sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years old.
Some 253 of the child rape victims were between three and 10 years old, a breakdown of the data revealed.
Further, 43,312 cases of child abuse – an average of 60 reports per day – were recorded by the Child Protection and Family Services Agency over the two-year period ending in December 2020, Patrick Shaw disclosed.
STARTLING FINDINGS
She said Jamaica’s first-ever violence against children survey, published by the Planning Institute of Jamaica last November, produced “some startling results in terms of what is happening with our children”.
“So, you must be wondering why we selected the theme … . We did an environmental assessment last quarter (in December) and we recognised that there is an increase in child violence in Jamaica,” Patrick Shaw told journalists during a post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew.
As a result, she said the NCMC is urging all Jamaicans to take a stand and do something to protect the nation’s children.
“We are asking you, whether you are in an entity or a community group, to join the charge to act now and stand against child abuse and exploitation.”
In January, the Office of the Children’s Advocate renewed a call for lawmakers to enact legislative changes that would prescribe social intervention and not criminal prosecution for children engaging in sexual activities.
The suggestion was in response to what the country’s prosecutorial authority described as an “alarming” number of sex-related cases involving minors that are before the Circuit Court for Kingston and St Andrew.
There were 156 cases listed before the Home Circuit Court for the offence of having sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years old.
MISSING THE POINT
“What has been a very interesting feature for me is that we continue to criminalise two 15-year-olds who claim that they are in love, and I think that we are missing the ball,” Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison said then.
Gordon Harrison proposed an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act to include a “close-in-age exception” that would still red-flag the problem of children engaging in sexual activities, but would instead prescribe a public health response with “intervention and guidance”.
Justice Minister Delroy Chuck disclosed yesterday that the proposal, which was first made to Parliament four years ago, “is now being acted on” and would allow a four-year age difference.
So, a 19-year-old having sex with a 15-year-old will not be prosecuted,” Chuck said, explaining the proposed legislative changes.
However, the suggestion by the Office of the Children’s Advocate was rejected by the advocacy group Hear the Children’s Cry.
“There can be no justification or pardon for sexual offences. It is not a frivolous matter for one to believe experimenting is a defence or an excuse,” said Priscilla Duhaney, a spokesperson for the group.
A church service, the observance of Children’s Day on May 16, and an ‘on the corner’ discussion series are among several activities planned by the NCMC to celebrate the month.
Troupe said that for Children’s Day, “every school in Jamaica” will be looking to focus on their student population “in a special way”.