JAMAICA'S murder figures tell of a state of emergency....JA population at 2.7 million folks has recorded more than 1,150 murders at a rate of 42 murders per 100,000 of population.

Monday, November 06, 2017 Richard Hugh Blackford  

Residents gather at a crime scene as
scene of crime officer arrive.
(Photo: Karl McLarty) 

According to a World Bank Report published earlier this year, the direct cost of crime to Jamaica in 2014 was $61 billion, or four per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The Inter-American Development Bank also reported that the indirect cost of crime to the country on an annual basis is about seven per cent of GDP, and includes investments that might have come to this country but didn't because of concerns about crime and corruption. This included the loss of human capital, as the island loses a lot of its skilled people who emigrate to other jurisdictions as personal fear becomes a component of that decision. Crime also impacts people's propensity to save and invest in Jamaica, a decision they are less likely to make if people believe they are going to become victims of a crime.

According to this report, the Latin America and Caribbean region remains the most violent region in the world, with a homicide rate of 24 per 100,000 of the population in 2015 — murder rates that are about four times the global average. Jamaica's murder rate is nearly twice this number when taken nationally and when looked at on a parish or city level.

With a population reported by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica at the end of 2016 at 2,730,000, the island, up to the end of September 2017, has recorded more than 1,150 murders at a rate of 42 murders per 100,000 of population. This ranks Jamaica as the fourth most murderous country in the entire world. If that picture is not bad enough, for a country that depends heavily on tourism for its livelihood, these figures are even more damning. more