Holness wants united effort to reduce violence

Prime Minister Andrew Holness is calling for a united effort to reduce violence in society, particularly interpersonal conflicts, which could result in murders.

"When we analyse the murder statistics, you know what we find? Gang murders have gone down but interpersonal crime resulting in murder is going up. It tells a story that personal conflict is resulting in the violent loss of lives, so we have to as a Government, as a people, JLP [Jamaica Labour Party] and PNP [People's National Party], we are going to have to join together to deal with this issue of violence. One place we can join together is the church," he said.

Holness was addressing the fourth annual National Day of Prayer, 'Heal the Family, Heal the Nation', at the Power of Faith Ministries International Inc. Miracle Cathedral, Portmore, St Catherine, on Wednesday.

Also participating in the event was Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding.

"When I said we're going to have to treat with this issue of peace in a deliberate way, Mark, in a non-political way, it is something that we have to join together to treat with peace, because our society is in conflict... we have personal conflicts; we have conflicts at the workplace and conflicts in the community," said Holness.

Police statistics show that 1,393 persons were murdered in 2023, which represents a 7.8 per cent decrease when compared t0 the 1,511 murders recorded in 2022. The statistics indicate that 4,555 cases of serious crimes -- murder, shooting, rape, robbery and break-in -- were recorded in 2023. The number represented a near 11 per cent decrease when compared with 2022.

"Serious crimes are the lowest they have been in 22 years. Though our economy is doing well, though we are building the infrastructure, though the statistics show murders are going down, violent and serious crimes are going down, how people feel, what they are being exposed to, what comes across on their social media, it is having an impact on their mental health and well-being, and that is dangerous," he said.