Citation

Charles CAD. Dialect. Anthropol. 2010; 34(4): 501-511.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Springer)

DOI

10.1007/s10624-010-9205-7

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article deals with reintegrating deportees in Jamaica. There is the belief among the citizenry, the media, and the government that the deportees are fueling the crime rate. Jamaica has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Some 15,618 deportees were sent to Jamaica from various countries between 2005 and 2009. The purveyors of the deportee-crime link ignore the influence of garrison communities on the crime rate which are political communities governed by criminals. Another view argues that the deportees have a minimal impact on the crime rate. None of the viewpoints can be substantiated without a representative survey with a rigorous methodology on the deportee-crime link. The various viewpoints also ignore the need to reintegrate the deportees. Only one church group the Cornerstone Ministries has a reintegration program. The government has a temporary piecemeal program that provides assistance and temporary housing rather than reintegration. Some societies (e.g. China, New Zealand, and Australia) have reintegration programs for ex-offenders which give them a stake in conformity by reaccepting them in the community after punishment. These models can be applied to Jamaica with the creation of a national reintegration program taking into account the cultural differences.

Language: en