Rage for revenge: a tragic dead end

"Is an eye for an eye. I want those mothers of them men who kill my son to cry like how I crying." So said Keyzec Monroe, the grieving mother of 11-year-old Kareem Alphonso, who was murdered by gunmen last Saturday. The boy's killing does not appear to have been so-called "collateral damage", but a deliberate execution.

Ms Monroe's rage for revenge is understandable. There are few parents who, if they had the opportunity, would not kill anyone who harmed their children — and probably did so in the most painful manner possible. But this is precisely why people cannot be allowed to take personal revenge for wrongs done to them. That is a blueprint for barbarism. Ms Monroe's wish for vengeance underlies the cycle of violence that makes murder a way of life in the hotspot neighbourhood she lives in. Were she to get her wish, then the relatives of those men would in turn seek their own revenge.

"I don't want the police to catch them," she told the Express, "because this justice system is messed up. They could be back on the streets again and, if not, jail might be a relief for them." In this statement, too, Ms Monroe identified a root cause of violence — the failure of the State to protect its citizens.

History shows that homicide rates dropped drastically as nations were formed and the State gained a monopoly on violence. In the 21st century, we view Trinidad and Tobago's 30 per 100,000 homicide rate as barbarously high, and indeed it is compared to the three or less per 100,000 in developed nations. But, up to 300 years ago, a rate of 100 murders per 100,000 persons was common in European cities and in tribal societies. By having an arbiter, even an oppressive Leviathan, individuals and groups got a guarantee that they could survive and thrive without attacking first, without taking revenge, and by negotiating for peace.

But this is also why violence is most prevalent in areas where the police are not doing what they are supposed to do. If a resident of an affluent area calls to report a disturbance or threat, the response of the police is likely to be quite different than if a http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Rage_for_revenge__a_tragic_dead_end-167785935.htmlsimilar complaint came from a resident of a hotspot.

Certainly, other factors come into play — poverty, gang rivalries, the drug trade, URP mentality — but if the authorities were protecting the people in these areas and helping resolve their disputes, then murder would not be so common an occurrence there.

Such incidents reveal the limits of the more-vehicles-more-officers crime strategy, for this initiative will not change the savagery of spirit that lies behind the killing of children.

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