The Common Causes Of Crime And Violence

Tourism
Published: 1st Jan 2015 in Tourism

Crime and violence involves the intent or use of psychological and physical force or
power against oneself or another to do harm. It is one of Jamaicas leading causes of
economic problem. National Committee on Crime and Violence was formed in the
context of rising criminal activity within Jamaica and the feeling among the political
leadership of the country that a united front with the full interest and participation of
civil society is required to stem the tide. The establishment of the Committee and the
recommendations in this report symbolize the unity of purpose and the priority given
to finding solutions to the problem of crime and violence. There are different reasons
why crime and violence is one Jamaica’s leading and you will read up more about
them as you go along.

The aim of this research is to find out what are crime and violence and the effect it as
on the country and the tourism sector. How large of an impact does crime and
violence have on the tourism industry. What can be done to reduce crime and
violence? What is the main contribution to crime and violence? These are question
that will be answer in this research.

The research questions were as follows:

1. What was the profile of business operators who were being affected by crime and
violence?

2. What was the nature of the impact of crime and violence on these businesses?

3. Who should work to solve this problem?

4. What suggestions did business operators have for solving crime and violence?

Causes of crime and violence

Jamaica has one of the highest crime rates in the world, but a relatively low rate of
property crime. Tourism is quite sensitive to crime thus, the main crime are against
hotels which tends to be theft at an alarming rate of 72%. About 0.1% (103) of
tourists are victims of violent fraudulent victimization i.e. Robbery and extortion. Only
a small amount of visitors however are victimized. Despite the high rate of violent
crimes in Jamaica, the low rates and prevalence of tourist victimization are explained
by the relative low crime rate in tourist areas. Tourist areas tend to have low crime
rates however many persons are deterred from coming to the island because of the
negative publicity of crime and violence. According to Dunn, studies have revealed
that crime and violence are perceive to be the number one problem affects in the
tourism industry. Other studies have however revealed that crime and violence
cannot be a major indicator of crime and violence because there is no serious
relationship between the two. It can however be pointed out that most tourist face
harassment when they come to Jamaica especially those stop over tourist. Given the
fact that the actual numbers of crime against tourist are not significantly relative to
the average, it is the news effect of overall crime rates and the perception of the
destination at various points in time that create the fear of Jamaica as an unsaved
destination.

The common causes of crime and violence are:

Poverty

Economy

Politics

Unemployment

Rates of crime and violence in the tourism sector

Any form of violence in the country affects us all as well as the buying decision for
the tourist who wants to take a vacation whether it is the manufacturing, retail or
tourism. Still, it is not good for the country so it should be contained.

A recent shooting incident at a prominent all-inclusive hotel in Negril where an

employee was injured, has underscored the need to cripple the wave of crime in the
island, and the matter has being weighed in on by Wayne Cunningham, president of
the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association. Hence, the wave of crime in Jamaica
must not be tolerated not only because of the tourism industry but we are all
Jamaicans, so this states a clear indicative challenge of crime that we (tourism sector)
have to be dealing with.

According to” The Gleaner”, robbery is a main effect occurring in Negril, incidents of

tourism-related violence occurring in two weeks or sometimes less, gun man sticking
up individuals, the blacks charging the whites more than what should not expected,
and so on. These robberies normally occur at an attraction sites (beaches, parks
entertainments, shopping schemes, etc.). Thus, some attractions sites really don’t
report an incident which occurs to police, and for that, police are unable to attend to
the matter taken place.
In effect, Jamaica has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world, but
property crime is said to be relatively low. Thus, 33 per 100,000 inhabitants at a rate
in 2000 were recorded as intentional homicide, South Africa (52) and Colombia (63)
at a low rate. Such incidents per 100,000 Jamaica experienced 215, (665 in South
Africa, 95 in Dominica) in terms of recording major assaults. Recorded drug offences
are also among the highest in the world, at 452 per 100,000 (370 in Dominica, and
highest at 987 in Norway).

In contrast, property crimes are relatively low in Jamaica: recorded burglaries occur at
a rate of 92 per 100,000 (1777 in the Dominica, 922 in South Africa, 134 in Mauritius),
and total robberies at 89 per 100,000 (78 in Dominica, 460 in South Africa, 98 in
Mauritius). In the aggregate, Jamaica experienced a relatively lower 1488 total
recorded crimes per 100,000 in 2000 (10763 in Dominica, 7997 in South Africa, 3030
in Mauritius, 1289 in Costa Rica), since non-violent crimes are fewer in Jamaica, but
where there is also significant under-reporting owing to low clear-up rates.

In conclusion, high rate of violent crime can have many adverse repercussions; such
as:

It has a negative impact on the investment climate and can deter or delay both
domestic and foreign investment, and hence growth.

It leads to higher cost of doing business, because of the need to employ different
forms of security, and diverts investment away from business expansion and
productivity improvement, and may lead to a less than optimal operating strategy.

It can also cause a permanent shut-down of firms or relocation to less crime-prone

countries.

It leads to loss of output because of reduced hours of operation (including avoiding

night shifts) or loss of workdays arising from outbreaks of violence, and avoidance of
some types of economic activity.

Fig. 1.2 graph showing

Figure 1.2 illustrates that murder rate is at 70%, property crime is at 40%, theft is at
60%, and extortion rate is at 90%. However, it’s obviously stated in the graph that
extortion rate occurs most in a given community or tourism sector.

The effects of crime and violence have on the tourism industry.

Crime and violence basically means dangerous act being conducted or which is
forced up on a victim or upon the country itself, these include murder, rape, and
theft, property crime, and extortion, etc.
Tourism is among the top three sources of revenue for the country. Crime and
violence has a negative effect on Jamaica and the tourism industry, for one this
causes travellers to worry about their safety on the island in which most times lead to
them cancelling their trip to Jamaica and going to some other country. The rising in
unemployment has often been the reason for the increase in crime and violence
which has a negative effect on the times lead to a decline in the growth of the
tourism sector, it also affects the development of the human capital and also the
social capital meaning crime and violence leads to the migration of persons to leave
the labour force in other words it drives away investments

The crime and violence also has an effect on the cost of the business has it has to
deal with the cost, causing the hiring of more securities and if the crime and violence
rate was to decrease then there would be an increase in the economy growth and
the country would have lots of long term investments. Crime and violence also has
an effect on the hotels because if tourist stop visiting the country who will they cater
for now and this would lead to the firing of most employees, which would lead to
unemployment and most hotels order goods from farmers in the country and this
would lead to a decline in the demand for the goods because there is less persons
arriving in the country and staying in an hotel and going to restaurants and bars in
the hotel.

Recommendations

Crime and violence tremendously affects the tourism sector of this beautiful country
and they are a couple of areas with which recommendations can be made and these
are as follows:

It is our view that the ministry of tourism in collaboration with the islands police force
to come up with a more vigilant approach of establishing a special unit of the police
force that is placed at the designated tourism destinations across the island to deal
with matters of harassment and the unscrupulous practices that is targeted towards
the visitors to the island.

We also believe that the Jamaica tourist board in their efforts should get together a
familiarization trip, which involves hosting various numbers of travel agents and large
events coordinators to the country in an effort to re-embed the beauty and charms
of the island so despite the state of crime and violence within the country Jamaica is
still a good place to visit and do business.

We also believe that the government or the security ministry should take into
consideration or even go one step further in adapting the strategies of some of our
neighboring countries such as Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas in the crime
fighting initiatives that these countries undertake because these countries boast a
relatively lower crime rate than Jamaica.
Conclusion

The crime and violence in Jamaica has increase over the years which are causing a
problem in the economic growth in the tourism sector. Each year when tourists come
here to enjoy themselves they are either rob or dies. This kind of behavior is causing
a downwards slope for the tourism sector and the country. The government is trying
to put in place ways in which to get crime and violence under control, so tourists are
asked to stay within their attraction and with a tour guide for their safety.
Briefing | Crime and violence in
Jamaica; time to focus on embedded
institutional problems
Published:Tuesday | January 23, 2018 | 12:00 AMDr Andre Haughton

File

In this 2005 file photo women are seen comforting a Clarendon resident mourinng the murder of a relative.

Crime and violence has had minimal impact on tourism in the Second City, although
the violent habits of some of the residents of Montego Bay are becoming
overwhelming. The crime as well as a state of emergency can sometimes be very
costly to everyone and can also result in loss of earnings. There are several direct
and indirect costs associated with crime. Direct costs include that of policing and
security, legal fees, medical expenditure, prisons and private security, while indirect
costs include loss of earnings, loss of productive time, lower investment, lower
demand, and lower productivity. The people appear to be desperately in need of a
less violent city, and despite the associated costs and the negative perception, many
continue to engage in criminal and violent activities. Why do they?
 Morgan Heritage Lyrics
"Nothing To Smile About"

Nuff people come to Jamaica

And nuh know how we live think seh
Everything nice through we full of vibes and think
Hey, hey, dem say want feelin' to dem heart
When dem get fi overstand di real thing, yeah

Mi deh ya a town one day

A par with a white man weh come all the way from Norway
And him turn to mi and say
How comes Jamaica full of so much screwface
Same time mi lift mi head to the sky
And a tear drop fall from mi eye
Mi say my youth come we go out for a drive
Mek mi show you why mi cry

Look 'pon di gully side

Do you see anything fi smile 'bout?
Look at that hungry child
Do you see anything fi smile 'bout?
Look at the school weh deh youth dem go fi get dem education
Do you see anything fi smile 'bout?
Look at the conditions of our police stations
Do you see anything fi smile 'bout, no

Same time the bredda say

How can a nation believe in this way
And the next thing him say
How can the government play so many games
Same time mi heart fall to the ground
'Cause dis much war where that comes from
Certain place they are worse dan slum
Youth-man come

And take a look 'pon Riverton

Do you see anything fi smile 'bout?
Look 'pon Payneland, yeah
Do you see anything fi smile 'bout?
Flankers, Mobay and Saffras Heights in Nos Spain
Do you see anything fi smile 'bout?
Hope Flats, Kentiyah, Mottom Bay are all the same
Do you see anything fi smile 'bout?

No, no
No, no, no, no, no
 Oh no-no, oh no-no

Nuff people come to Jamaica

And nuh know how we live think seh
Everything nice through we full of vibes and think
Hey, hey, dem say want feelin' to dem heart
When dem get fi overstand di real thing

When dem look 'pon di gully side

Dem nuh see nothing deh fi smile 'bout
Look at that hungry child, yeah
Dem nuh see nothing deh fi smile 'bout
Look at the school weh deh youth dem go fi get dem education
Dem nuh see nothing deh fi smile 'bout
When dem sight of the conditions of our police stations
Dem nuh see nothing deh fi smile 'bout
The story seh

Mi deh ya a town one day

A par with a white man weh come all the way from Norway
And him turn to mi and say
How comes Jamaica full of so much screwface
Same time mi lift mi head to the sky
And a tear drop fall from mi eye
Mi say my youth come we go out for a drive
Mek mi show you why mi cry

Take a look 'pon Riverton

Do you see anything fi smile 'bout?
Look 'pon Payneland
Do you see anything fi smile 'bout?
Canterbury Mobay, March Pen Road ova Spain
Do you see anything fi smile 'bout?
Nuff likkle place deh ya inna Jamdown today
Weh nuttin nuh did deh fi smile 'bout?

No, no
No, no, no, no, no...