06 Jan 06 The sad, ugly truth is that Jamaica suffers from a debilitating and corrosive pathology, whose causes are many and complex, but which reveals itself, in part, in the nearly 1,500 people who have been murdered here so far this year.
Jamaica has a murder rate of approximately 56 homicides for every 100,000 of its population, which places the country if not at the top, very near the top of the ranking of murders per capita.
Part of the failure of arresting this pathology of gore and mayhem is the ineffectiveness of the Jamaican constabulary in investigating and solving all crimes.
This year, not much more than 50 per cent of the murders will be "cleared-up" by the police, in that they will have identified a suspect.
In very few of the cases, however, will any of these suspects be taken before the courts to be tried for the crime. And if they are, the majority will be acquitted.
There is a sense among the murderers, therefore, that they can kill with impunity. For there is no consequence to pay.
On the face of it, the police have shown no greater competence in solving murders, or for that matter any other crime, based on the gender and/or sexual preference of the victim.
Indeed, we believe that there is a slander abroad against the constabulary, imbuing them with competence, or even attention, when investigating the murder of people who are heterosexual.
In investigating all cases of murder, the record of the police is poor.
Yet, there is a myth, which is gathering steam, most dangerously abroad and perpetrated by skilled propagandists, that somehow the murder of gays, particularly homosexual males, are less likely to be solved than if a straight person is the victim.
The chances in either case, really, is equally poor.
Another myth being parlayed with great political skill, is that every murder of any crime against any homosexual is, first and foremost, a hate crime, perpetrated because of the sexual preference of the victim.
This newspaper does not deny that there is in Jamaica what has come to be called, like reflex shorthand for the island - in much the same way as reggae music, rastafari and dreadlocks - Jamaican homophobia.
This label translates to mean the ritual beating and/or murder of gays.
This newspaper does not dismiss the fact that openly gay men, in some circumstances, may face harassment and ridicule and even assault, which can lead to murder.
Indeed, we have, in these columns, urged a sensible debate on the issue of homosexuality and the review of some of the country's existing laws from two standpoints. In the first instance, a person's sexual preference is a civil liberty issue and a private matter, once that person's lifestyle does not impinge on the rights of other individuals.
The state has no place - except in very limited and very extreme circumstances, such as in the protection of minors - in a person's bedroom.
Secondly, we support the notion that bringing these issues out in the open in an environment of tolerance will impact the problem of stigma that helps to push HIV/AIDS and some other debilitating diseases underground.
We, however, do not believe that improving tolerance or ending stigma are achieved through propagandist exaggeration and/or a misunderstanding, deliberate or otherwise, of the social construct of Jamaica so as to place all utterances on a literal plane.
Neither do we believe it credits us to deny the evolution of the society.
We, support the move by Mr Mark Shields, the police crime chief, to appoint a civilian oversight team to monitor the police investigation of the Steve Harvey case, and perhaps any future murder of gay men.
Ms Jenny Campbell would have appreciated such scrutiny during the investigation of the death of her son, Michael Gayle.
Perhaps the system can now be applied to murders in inner-city communities where the bulk of the 1,500 homicides victims reside, whose friends insist that the police will not bring them justice.
From the Jamaica Observer, 10 December 2005
