THE INCREASED acts of violence, school dropouts, teenage pregnancies, gang violence, rapes, abduction and death, among other social maladies, are turning Jamaica into one of those scary movies we rush to watch at the theatre on a Saturday night. But unlike the movie, we cannot get up and walk out, we cannot rely on the safety outside, nor is there the possibility of a hero to put those dark forces into extinction.

There have been so many negatives within our society that we have come to expect no less from our adult counterparts, much less our children. Homes are no longer safe, churches provide little option; and schools are slowly becoming scenes for an original best-seller. As we sit and watch our society, the land we love, sweet, sweet Jamaica, gradually deteriorate, we wonder what is next or who is next.

indecisive

The Government recently voted to retain the death penalty, with the aim to act on it, a stance most of our parliamentarians took, most Jamaicans support, and about which some still a bit indecisive. But is that enough? Will this solve anything, or what we want to solve right now? A possibility, but I doubt it. We need some 'NOW SOLUTIONS'. Solutions that will get us to feel safe walking down a lonely road one night from university, from a hard day's work or just a night out on the town, and I doubt the death penalty will solve that, at least not soon enough.

equipped justice system

We need a justice system, one where people will feel like justice is served; where we have highly professional police officers who are fully equipped to conduct investigations, interrogations and make irrefutable arrests; a court system that does not have a backlog from January to December and the cycle continues; where there are enough judges to rule over cases and not wait a lifetime for a judgement; a correctional facility that does not make criminals harder and worse, but provides a deterrent (I suggest we put them to work to build our bridges, roads, schools, jobs we give out to big firms who collect big money from us taxpayers, etc); a system where one is placed in witness protection, is actually protected and not found dead. No justice system is perfect, I agree, but let us try to get as close as possible.

Too much is enough, and I for one have had enough. What about you?

I am etc.,

KADIA BAUGH

kadia_baugh@hotmail.com.