Fatherlessness and rapists linked?

THE EDITOR, Sir:

THE RECENT savage rapes and murders of Yetanya Francis and Shamoya Wray have raised fresh questions regarding the role of the family, or lack thereof, in increasing the vulnerabilities of our children and the proliferation of rapists.

The primary and most essential structure for the protection of children is the family. Stable homes are essential to a stable society. The truth is, fatherlessness removes the primary protectors, and in doing so advances rape. The US Department of Justice has stated that in the absence of biological fathers, daughters are 900 per cent more vulnerable to sexual abuse and rape. Fatherless children are also 14 times more likely to become rapists. The statistics on fatherlessness go on and on. Martin Henry in his May 2013 flagship Gleaner article ‘The cost of absent fathers’, put them all on display. Fatherlessness and broken family life are the well-established roots of violent crime and several other social ills.

So why have we failed as a nation to do anything more than acknowledge them? How much longer will we wait, while the vulnerability of our youth and the versatility of our nation’s predators continually increase? We must address fatherlessness and broken family life as a national emergency!

DR DANIEL THOMAS President

Love March Movement (Currently serving in Community Health at the KSA Health Department)