70 % who dropout schools are boys says Jamaica’s National Security Minister

Jamaica: Jamaica’s Minister of National security – Dr Horace Chang, has noted that 70 % of boys who reside in inner-city communities have dropped out of school that is providing fertile ground for criminal gang recruitment. 

While addressing a virtual Youth Summit on Crime and Violence, the national security minister stated that he said data spanning the past ten years.  

“No wonder we have the emergence of more and more gangs. These are boys and young men that social anthropologists refer to as recruitable to gangs,” He further added. 

Further pointing out and emphasizing on the data that was released in the year 2020, 16 per cent of murder victims were between the ages of 15 and 24. While in the year of 2019 and 2018, youth victims relative to murders were 21 per cent and 22 per cent. On average, he noted that 40 per cent of all identified murderers are young men between the age group of 15 and 24.                  

Following the statement, he added that “In other words, for every ten persons arrested for murder, 4 are young men between the ages of 15 and 24. Respectively, youth within this age group have taken up leadership roles within gangs and have been prepared by dons and other violence producers to commit gun and the other violent crimes. They are being trained to gain leadership in the famous gangs. This data is still telling us that our youth are at risk.” 

The crime rate is hiking day by day in the Caribbean island. Jamaica is one of the usual violent nations in the Caribbean region. In the year 2020, there were approximately 46.5 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in the island nation, the highest homicide rate in – Latin America and the Caribbean that year. However, the homicide rate had improved compared to the year 2019, when 47.4 homicides were registered per 100,000 population.