Children aged 15 to 17 charged with 875 major crimes – commish Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

In what the police are describing as “particularly troubling”, children between ages 15 and 17 have been charged with 875 major crimes over the last four years.

This was disclosed by Police Commissioner, Major General Antony Anderson, at the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) monthly media briefing on Tuesday.

“In recent weeks, we’ve been dissecting the crime figures and looking more closely at both perpetrators and victims.

“When we examine children as the perpetrators of major crimes, some concerns begin to emerge,” Anderson pointed out.

He noted that though a child, by definition, is a person below the age of 18 years, “most of the perpetrators in this category are between 15 and 17 years old”.

For the four-year period of 2019 to present, children have been slapped with 79 murder charges and 66 shooting charges, Anderson informed.

“A total of 175 children have been charged with rape over the period. There have been 256 charges for breaches of the Firearms Act, 175 for break-ins, 89 for robbery, and 65 for aggravated assault,” he outlined.

“These individuals, if we do not act collectively, are getting into an early career of violence and crime.

“We are bringing this to the nation’s attention, because as a society, we have to decide how we are going to save them,” stated Anderson.

Major General Antony Anderson (file photo)

In furtherance of that point, the commissioner explained that as a constabulary, they also took the initiative of informing the nation relative to these trends “associated with the pandemic of violence impacting our country”, to “demand collective responsibility and action if we are to make a sustained change in behaviour.”

He added that, “We have a responsibility to investigate every crime, but there are some that are particularly troubling.”

Despite the troubling trend relative to children, Anderson reminded that the police have formed various early intervention strategies through its Community Safety and Security Branch (CSSB) and programmes such as the police youth clubs.

He advised, as well, of the police’s collaborative efforts with the Education and Youth Ministry and its safe school’s programme.

“However, we all must take this matter (children as perpetrators of crime) more seriously.

“The pandemic of violence is affecting our children; they are not merely innocent victims of violence. In far too many instances, children and adolescents are actually the perpetrators themselves,” Anderson reiterated.

The top law enforcer also stressed the importance of “all institutions of society” being vigilant towards the issues and engage in early surveillance of children in the home, school or elsewhere, to identify the early signs of violent tendencies.

NewsAmericasNow.com