dancehall music is not responsible for crime in jamaica, it is just a reflection of our times

By Gladstone Taylor, AFROPUNK contributor

Crime and violence is something that affects all people from all walks of life, no matter the race. However, it is often seen as a more characteristic feature of black communities and societies specifically. With the rise in the use of the term black on black crimes, we can see where there are those who continue to position crime as generally more of a “black problem”. This can appear to ring true when coupled with statistics that illustrate the ratio of white to black criminal activities, which may lean in favor of black people committing more crimes. This narrative is often accompanied by criticisms toward the music that comes out of these disenfranchised black communities. It is the belief of many, that the music and its culture propagates the deviant behavior. Those who hold firmly to these beliefs are supporters of an agenda, whether conscious or otherwise, which strengthens our worldview of crime and deviance. A worldview that is not only misinformed but also destructive.

The most common type of discourse surrounding the issue of crime often regards crime itself as an aberration of sorts. An evil specter standing between a community’s finest and their utopian dreams. This perspective muddies the entire discussion because it is not true, despite the lengths our governments will go to in order to prove otherwise. While crime cannot be justified as good, there are those like French Sociologist Emile Durkheim who theorized that crime is indeed a social function of society. According to Durkheim, crime is a necessary function in any and all societies. In fact, he considered the punishment of deviance, as a way of affirming social norms, thereby giving deviance a role in the development of a society’s culture. This is not to encourage crime, but rather to set the precedence, that no society is without crime. It’s not an infection, it’s a feature. From this vantage point, we can perhaps address the issue with a more informed approach.

Crime is without a doubt an issue, especially in a country like Jamaica with a population of 2,898,677, where the murder rate of a single city for the year 2017, was on par with a city like New York with a population of 8,537,673. That’s right, New York City’s murder count for 2017 up until October was 300, while Kingston City’s murder counts up until November was 285. This comparison is stunning to say the least, but it has had the Jamaican government and public in a state of worry. Not to mention the recent state of emergency that has been declared in the parish of St James, which is a harrowing reminder of the 2010 period of unrest, dubbed locally as the Tivoli incursion. Jamaica is a majority black country and so we come face to face with the primary perpetrator. The real cause of crime, being poverty. This doesn’t take away from the fact that we live in a world where systematic racism and colonialism has made it so that black and brown people are kept in a cycle of poverty by archaic laws and discrimination. Quite the opposite, it supplements it, which nurtures a cycle.

Postcolonial Jamaica still enjoys a great deal of that prejudice and colorism, which are the children of slavery and racism, but those below the poverty line are always the prime suspects in all crimes. In fact, the standard criminal profile sees poverty and destitution as the prime motive for most crimes. To further complement this fact, the laws of business, tell us that crime creates an unsafe environment for investment. So what happens then, is that the crime-prone communities may lose opportunities, money, and income multiplier value. Which means that over time, communities that are laid siege by surges in crime and deviance, not only lose productivity, but they lose income and business appeal that stagnates them in the end. It propagates a cycle where, these communities known for crime and violence become stagnant in a constant state of poverty, lack and general disrepair, which in turn produces more criminals.

Sociology also points us in that direction with the strain theory, which states that crime is proportionate to the strain on the economic atmosphere of a society. This is to say that, crime surges as a reaction to the inability of members of society, to attain the social norms set out by said society. So surges in crime are not mistakes, nor are they phenomenon that simply occurs for no reason. Wherever there is a crime, there are conditions that create and perpetuate it.

Recently there has been a myriad of criticisms that position dancehall music, as a main promoter of the criminal lifestyle. This calls into play the musicians and performing artists that have this astronomical influence on the communities. Many blame the current crime problem in Jamaica, on the aggressive nature of the music. There are those who strongly believe that artists have a responsibility to speak more positive narratives into their music. Perhaps these people are even right to do so, after all with great power–great responsibility. However, it is also the responsibility of the artist to be a voice, to the true stories of our time, no matter how ugly. For artists, it is also their social function. In much the same way the comedian is here to remind society not to take itself too seriously, the artist is here to remind society about its ugly truths, despite the utopian lies that it likes to believe about itself.

Ultimately, if we continue to treat crime like it’s not a complicated social construct, then we will continue to get negative results with our anti-crime efforts. We will continue to fail at solving this problem unless we treat crime as what it really is, an indication of imbalance, strain, and inequality. Dancehall music is in fact, not the phantom of Jamaica’s crime surge, nor is any music. The disharmony occurs when there is an over saturation of the kind of music that glorifies crime and violence. It becomes a kind of ammunition for those with criminal intentions. In the end, it comes down to the conscience and discretion of the artists, both of which are relative to each person. But the ugly truth is, as long as we search for a place to put the blame for surges in crime and violence, we will find more and more places to point the finger. At the core of it, the strain on the people of a society is where we can affect the most proactive approach to dealing with crime. Prisons, rehabilitation Programmes, even law enforcement is after the fact. We don’t  get surges in deviance and crime until pressure begins to affect the poor and marginalized members of our society enough to motivate criminal acts. Until we address the real-life strain that is causing this type of action, then blaming aspects of our lives that can either amplify or sedate our intentions, is like shooting blindly and expecting to hit the mark. Because no matter who is to blame for the disrepair, the responsibility falls to all of to fix it.