Let’s stop beating our children
SUCH is the tendency towards violence among our children we can’t ignore the fact that two of the three boys, wards of the State, who reportedly escaped the Rio Cobre Juvenile Correctional Centre in St Catherine on Saturday afternoon by scaling a barbedwire-topped, 12-foot-high fence, were locked away for violent crimes.
Word of the breakout at Rio Cobre came even as early-rising readers learnt of a poll among young Jamaicans conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in association with this newspaper. It showed the majority felt not enough was being done to guide children on peaceful dispute resolution.
Just as violence in response to disputes tend to land adults in jail, so too offending children find themselves locked away — their future sometimes blighted as a result.
We are told that corporal punishment and community conflicts were identified by poll responders — mostly teenagers and adolescents — as major contributors to children becoming violent.
Our reporter tells us that, “When asked if they thought enough was being done to show Jamaican children how to resolve disputes without resorting to violence, 92 per cent of respondents said ‘no’, while eight per cent said ‘yes’.
“In response to the query as to what form of violence inflicted upon children most contributes to them becoming violent, 39 per cent of respondents said corporal punishment, and an equal percentage of them pointed to community violence.”
One responder said: “The violence young people witness on a daily basis is absurd. When it’s not in the media or music, it is in everyday life. We can’t be surprised that young people are being influenced by it when our culture perpetuates [violence]. While the Government and legislators have a lot of work to do, we as a people should also hold ourselves accountable...”
Says another: “Children are surrounded by violence from an early age and, on top of that, are being abused by parents who consider it discipline. Because of this, children grow up with the idea that you have to get physical to get what you want from others.”
None of this is new. We believe it’s increasingly recognised that beating children as a disciplinary measure does considerable harm. Thankfully, the practice appears to be disappearing in schools.
It’s in the home that it is most pervasive — reinforced, unfortunately, by an interpretation of the Bible which many believe recommends corporal punishment.
Happily, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, his wife and fellow parliamentarian Mrs Juliet Holness, and Opposition Leader Mr Mark Golding are among those who have spoken out strongly against corporal punishment.
Mrs Holness has quite correctly made the connection to the enslavement of our African ancestors. She reminded Jamaicans in the Gleaner newspaper last year that “…we were literally taken into slavery and beaten, and then our children were raised into slavery and beaten into submission”.
The prime minister wants laws to ban corporal punishment altogether.
We recall Mr Golding suggesting that such legislation should follow intense public education.
We have said repeatedly in this space that there is need for comprehensive parental training, so Jamaican parents — many of whom are undereducated and poorly socialised — can better understand what their options are in dealing with children deemed difficult.
We need to get started.