Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

The Latest statistics from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) show a massive reduction in the number of reprisal killings over the past six years.

But there are several question marks about the numbers, which defy the reality of many Jamaicans.

According to head of the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN), deputy superintendent Sonia James-Thompson, only 68 of the 1,611 murders committed last year had revenge as the motive.

But Horace Levy, board member of the Peace Management Initiative (PMI), is not impressed with the police data. "I am a little cautious about the police figures on reprisals. I am not outright rejecting the police figures ... (but) sometimes it's difficult to determine when a reprisal has taken place," he said.

Levy explained that there are times when a reprisal killing occurs months or years after the incident that spawned it, and as a result, does not appear to be an act of revenge.

If correct, the police data paint a positive picture: More Jamaicans are abandoning the revenge-driven eye-for-eye creed and adopting the Christian principle of meekness and turning the other cheek.

However, since 2004, the police stopped using 'reprisal' as a murder-motive category in the statistics made public.

Reprisal killings, murders

Now, reprisal killings are lumped with murders committed during the course of a robbery and other murder motives in a category called 'Other Criminal Acts'. It is still not clear why the police decided to put revenge killings in this category.

The other murder-motive categories are 'Gang Related', 'Domestic Related' and 'Drug Related'. And, of course, there is a category for the murders for which the police have not yet established a motive. However, the CCN boss compiled the latest data on reprisals killings for The Sunday Gleaner.

DSP James-Thompson, who said reprisal killings are revenge murders spawned by a previous act, told The Sunday Gleaner that it would be difficult, in the absence of a formal study of the data, to determine what exactly led to the reduction.

"There can be any number of possibilities. It's hard to attribute it solely to police work," she said.

Informal peace treaties

The CCN boss pointed out that the informal peace treaties being signed at the community level, as well as the work being done by the PMI and other such groups are having an impact on people's reaction to violence.

Back in March 2003, the Meadhaven Ministers' Fraternal launched the National Forgiveness Campaign as part of its contribution to the National Values and Attitudes Programme, which was introduced in response to the findings of a national survey on the motive for murders in 2002.

The survey indicated that reprisals accounted for 32 per cent of murders in 2002 while domestic violence accounted for 27 per cent.

The Reverend Devon Dick, pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church, said there is a need for the mass replication of the intervention and prevention work being done by the PMI and institutions like the University of the West Indies in war-torn communities.

"More people need to do that," said the man who was head of the Meadhaven Ministers' Fraternal in 2003 when the forgiveness campaign was launched.

"The increase in murders is perhaps an indication that we have not succeeded. It seems as if we need to redouble our efforts," he said.

Before demitting office in April, former national security minister, Colonel Trevor Macmillan, told the Senate that "most of the killings have stemmed from conflicts between some of the more than 125 gangs that are currently operating throughout the country and from reprisal actions in inter-gang warfare".

Of the 1,611 murders committed last year, the police said 718 of them were gang related. Seven hundred and ninety-nine killings were filed under the same category in 2007.

Levy is also of the opinion that the police might be attributing too many murders to gang activity. He believes that there are a great number of 'personal killings' being committed that are not gang related.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com