Culture of violence not new in TT

According to UWI lecturer Merle Hodge, the high incidence of violent crime in society is a recent phenomenon, but the culture of violence has been around for a long time. Stating that while violent acts take place both behind closed doors and in the public sphere, she said that some crimes were not reported by the media because they do not result in murder. Hodge was addressing a one-day seminar on the “Culture of Violence,” at the Sir Arthur Lewis building at the Centre of Gender and Development Studies and the Department of Liberal Arts, UWI, when she made the statement.

While the majority of people believe in corporal punishment to discipline children, Hodge pointed out that if men were to try “disciplining” women in this manner, it would be labelled “physical abuse or violence.” She recalled that when corporal punishment was outlawed several years ago, some teachers felt dismayed as they believed they had no support crutch with which to enforce their authority. Hodge said other measures had to be found to instil discipline in children.

Recounting recent reports of toddlers being beaten to death, Hodge said when the issues were examined further, it was found that they were abused on the basis of fulfilling characteristics of persons within the particular age bracket — such as wetting the bed. Hodge produced a clipping from a daily paper a few years ago in which several children had been asked if they were happy that corporal punishment in schools had been banned. Hodge quoted some as saying they believed that children would “get own way” and that it should not be banned. In addition to latent violent tendencies which can be triggered at any moment, Hodge concluded that various factors in today’s environment also contributed to such violence. These include the type of songs and shows persons are exposed to, as well as the lack of community and family life.