The Editor, Sir:

I write in reference to the recent debate regarding the cause of the high murder and violent crime rate in Jamaica.

The causes of high violent crime rates are usually analyzed in terms of, inter alia, lower socio-economic levels, lower educational attainment and political instability. However, due to the fact that other poor, uneducated and unstable nations have significantly lower violent crime rates, I suggest that these factors do not adequately explain the murder phenomenon in Jamaica.

Deadbeat dads

Although it is not based on empirical evidence, I observe that the high crime rate in Jamaica may be strongly linked to a pattern of fractured family structures. There is a national cultural trend of deadbeat dads, with the sexual responsibility of rabbits, conceiving children with little financial or social commitment to their offspring.

Unfortunately, the economic and legal systems seem unable to counterbalance this degenerative behaviour by providing adequate mandatory support for child care.

The pattern of poor, uneducated, and younger persons having children without the means of adequately caring for them economically or psychologically, undermines nation building because of the resulting lack of resources, support and stability. If the fractured family structure is at least a principal contributor to crime, then targeting policing and incarceration, without addressing this cause, will not adequately combat crime.

Family planning

The solution to the problem of fractured families is family planning to lower the birth rate, while increasing the commitment to child development. In other nations, patterns exist in which individuals actually wait until they are best able to support their children before they begin their families.

There is no society that progresses with a high birth rate. In contrast, the largest segment of the Jamaican population consists of economic dependents under age 24.

This group is largely seen as relatively uneducated and unskilled, in the context of high unemployment and underemployment. Of course, this group is perpetuated by these young individuals conceiving more dependent babies.

I am, etc.,

ANTONN BROWN

Mandeville, Manchester

brown.ant@gmail.com