Quote Originally Posted by Oncedeported View Post
Hopefully a lot less. 10 years is a hard sentence for stealing. They need to stop it, but not go down the same road as the U.S. choose. Locking up such a large percentage of your young men doesn't help either.
I think I understand your feelings about locking people up for a long time for a petty crime like stealing..but.. I don't understand why punishing people for a crime that no one forced them to commit is such a bad thing either.

I don't suffer easily a person that steals or lies. Lying (like stretching the truth or sparing someone's feelings) is a slap on the wrist type of offense and (I suppose) stealing to feed your family etc. would probably fall into that category... but... to rob someone for personal enrichment is beyond the pall in my opinion.

As I said before, I live most of the year in rural Jamaica where vigilante justice provides a sort of deterrent for praedial larcenies like livestock stealing and ripping off a farmer's crop. Does beating, chopping or shooting them stop the crimes from happening? Probably a little but people don't plan on getting caught either. I would venture a guess that those perpetrators won't do it again and getting caught and incarcerated for a sizable amount of time will probably give a similar result.

As I always say.. "locks are made to keep your friends honest" because if a person wants to rob you, a lock won't stop them either. I live in a town that is mostly crime free but we still lock the doors at night as well.

Most of the people here on this board have no clue on what it is like to actually live in Jamaica. I think Rob would attest to that statement. Talking bravado on what they would do if they lived here is pure "eediat" talk. I think taking precautions like locking doors, not carrying large amounts of money or bling and a certain amount of wariness gives one a certain amount of security but... "bad tings agwann" too.

You can't live your life always looking over your shoulder.

Peace and Guidance