A public health approach to domestic murder-suicide incidents
Violence in Jamaica is a public health issue. The country is now ranked the fourth most homicidal country in the world and domestic murder-suicide is one exemplar of this problem. There were 32 murder-suicide incidents reported between 1992 and 2019 with many primary and secondary targets. These horrific murders have a dramatic impact on the public when they are reported by the media. Murder-suicide incidents highlight the fact that domestic violence is a problem in the country. The prayers, vigils and public protests against domestic violence and calls to stop the violence have had little or no impact on the problem. Nevertheless, these failed solutions continue to be promoted with the latest call being for laws to protect women. Jamaica has no hands, feet and brains but ours, so laws, by themselves, will do little to solve the problem if we do not act in concert to significantly reduce domestic violence.
The first thing we need to do is to understand the causes of murder-suicides. A few of the major reasons are listed here. There is the problem of attachment disorder where children do not develop wholesome bonds with their caregivers during socialization so they become insecure giving rise to personality disorder. These insecure children become insecure adults without the necessary skills to have wholesome intimate-partner relationships. Another issue is that some boys and girls are not socialised as equals. In many homes, there are rigidly defined gender roles where girls are taught to be dependent and play subordinate roles to boys. These boys are reared to believe that they are superior to girls and that they own them. Children socialized in this maladaptive way take these dysfunctional attitudes, worldviews and behaviours into adulthood, all of which undermine intimate-partner relationships. Another issue is “murderation” parenting, where some children are consistently and violently brutalized under the guise of punishment. Children that experience this kind of parental torture become violence producers who see violence as the only option to settle perceived disrespect and subtle social slights. Some parents also encourage their children to be violent in order to survive in violent communities. These factors, among others, produce violent adults who create toxic relationships because they do not have the life skills to sustain functional social and intimate-partner relationships.
The overwhelming majority of the perpetrators of domestic murder-suicide incidents are males and the targets are females. The gun is the most popular weapon used in these murder-suicide incidents which occur in all parishes but more so in Portland, Manchester, and Kingston and St. Andrew.
There are some risk factors that increase the likelihood of domestic partner murder-suicide incidents. In these toxic intimate partner relationships, the man is older than his female partner and owns a gun. The female partner is financially dependent on her male partner, she has a lower-paying job and socio-economic status. The context for murder-suicides is chronic domestic disputes and the trigger is the female partner threatening to leave or terminate the relationship.
Violence is spread by our socialization practices through institutions such as the family, school and community, among others. This is reinforced by a subculture of violence where many Jamaicans believe that violence is the best option to settle disputes. The problem is made worse by the failure of successive governments and (un)civil society to reduce the high rates of violence. Jamaica is now a high violence society where social violence is normalized.
We require public health polices to tackle murder-suicide incidents in particular and domestic violence in general. These policies have to be measurable and scaled up nationally after we have proven that they work. We also have to make these policies sustainable.
Some possible solutions to the problem are psycho-educating and training friends and family on how to get warring couples into treatment and care, and to report incidents of domestic violence. There should be a 24 hour domestic violence helpline with properly trained staff. Religious leaders should also receive psychoeducation to get couples into treatment and care and the legal system where necessary, because these leaders are, more often than not, the first stop for domestic violence victims.
Additionally, these victims should be educated about the law, their rights and where they can receive treatment and care and legal guidance. Domestic abusers should be permanently removed from the home. Temporary shelters, that are safe, should be provided countrywide for victims of domestic violence. These victims should be empowered with marketable life, technical and financial skills and put on a path to home ownership. The courts, where appropriate, should refer perpetrators for treatment and care, similar to what happens in the drug courts. Repeat offenders should be tried and incarcerated with long sentences in a rehabilitative programme. Domestic abusers should have their firearm licences revoked and weapons confiscated. There should be mandatory domestic violence workshops for the renewal of firearm licenses and return of weapons. We also have to teach parenting skills and provide critical support for families in crises and reduce community violence.
Christopher A.D. Charles Ph.D. is a psychologist and professor at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, and a senior research fellow at the Caribbean Institute of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, UWI.
