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With cries for the Government to respond more effectively to the crime problem, former Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington says Jamaica's laws do not match the level of violence now being experienced.
Mr. Ellington noted that years ago when lengthy prison sentences and the death penalty were more prominent, Jamaica had a lower spate of violence, including murders.
He said amendments to the relevant legislation have resulted in a more softened approach to crime.
But the former commissioner said the country needs to return to using the criminal justice system to send strong messages to offenders, as well as rehabilitating those who engage in unlawful activities.
"Because the criminals are actually making a rational choice about the crime they commit, what likely punishment they would face if they are caught, tried and convicted, and they balance that against the benefit they get from committing the crime... And when they look at the kind of sentences that people are getting, the rate at which offenders get off criminal charges, the short space of time that people spend before they get paroled - when they look at all of those factors - it gives them the impression, and members of the public get this impression as well that it's easy to commit crimes in Jamaica and get off of it," he asserted.
Mr. Ellington said delayed action by the Government runs the risk of creating a society where citizens feel the State has lost its capacity to protect them.
"We don't think through the strategies of criminals and shape legislative measures to count them. We make big pronouncement, we express outrage when we have a (Khanice) Jackson type case, but the things that other countries with less resources do regularly to deal with criminality, we are unwilling to do them in Jamaica," he contended while speaking Thursday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106.
Dancehall problem?
Mr. Ellington also commented on Prime Minister Andrew Holness's call for dancehall artistes to stop producing material which seem to be glorying violence.
Mr. Ellington reminded parliamentarians that about seven years ago the Jamaica Constabulary Force sought their intervention in enacting legislation to discourage the promotion of violence in dancehall music.
"The police compiled a list of over a thousand songs released in Jamaica by Jamaican dancehall deejays, etc. promoting violence, advocating violence, celebrating violence against the police, witnesses, informants, and victims of crime. That was stridently objected to by parliamentarians on the grounds that people were enjoying their freedom of expression. So this has come up before," he pointed out.
Security Expert Robert Finzi-Smith, in the meantime, has described the prime minister's statement on dancehall music as unfortunate.
He argued that political leaders ignored the "corrosive behaviour" of that type of music and have used it "in order to gain some form of popularity with the masses."
"Having utilized it in a manner that is blatant is hypocritical, and you can't expect a lot of people to take you seriously if you have taken this tack in the manner in which you have," Mr. Finzi-Smith suggested.
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