Citing data from his 2008 thesis entitled Poverty and Violence: A study of select inner-city communities in Jamaica and Britain, he noted that here in Jamaica, this has also been the case. The increase
in murders from 152 in 1970 to 232 in 1973 — following the general elections of 1972 — for example, prompted the passage of the Suppression of Crime Act in 1974, giving police extra common law powers of detention. By 1978, murders were up to 381.
The police again cracked the whip in 1981 following the 1980 election that saw 889
people murdered. But while murders went down to 484 in 1984, the number of civilians killed by police shot to a record 354, bringing the number of violent deaths in the island to a cumulative 838.
Government policies of confrontation and suppression have never worked and have always worsened our lives.
