Dr Jesusa Christina Puno
With Kuwait witnessing a yearend crime wave, expats and even locals are somehow concerned and alarmed at the situation and have been questioning whether the government was prepared to deal with it and whether they are indeed safe in Kuwait. Statistics published by many newspapers a week earlier showed that a crime was being committed in Kuwait every thirty minutes. The figures came to light in the aftermath of the murder of a dentist who was hacked to death in a crowded mall after a parking dispute.
That murder was immediately followed by another at a gasoline station in Sulaibiya area as stunned bystanders watched. ?I have reason to be alarmed. As per the statistics, crimes are happening even as we talk. We don?t know if in the next 30 minutes I will be the next victim and then figure only in the statistics,? an Indian expat working as an engineer said. ?Kuwait should really do something about it. We did not have such a high crime rate in the past. I have been in Kuwait for the last 15 years and now the statistics speak for themselves.
We need to be vigilant,? he added. An Arab expat noted that the crime statistics gave the impression that Kuwait was no longer safe to live in. ?I hope the Kuwaiti police will do something to counter the crime wave and ensure that such incidents do not happen again,? said Abdullah, a Jordanian who has been in Kuwait for ten years. Psychologist Dr Jesusa Christina Puno said countering such crimes required everyone?s cooperation. ?There are many factors responsible for the increasing number of crimes, and the family is among the most important since it is the nucleus or the smallest unit around which a society is built. The family can play a crucial role in strengthening the community and the society. It is from the family that one should be learning values, be they about respecting the parents or respecting elder siblings.
When you learn this at home, you will also learn how to respect others,? she said. ?It is at the family level that we should be inculcating a fear of God as well. After all, our souls too need food for rejuvenation of the spirit,? she said. Dr Puno, the principal of the New Kuwait Philippines International School, also said that the latest technology poses a huge challenge to parents and schools that are trying to stop such violent behavior. ?Environment is an important factor in such crimes. Earlier, only friends and people around a person, or a culture of drugs, comprised the elements of this environment but nowadays technology has become a big factor. It is responsible for many teenagers going wayward,? she suggested, adding that they have their own perceived world in which they live, and sad to say, it is an uncontrolled world. ?Other than strengthening our family values, we have little in the name of a remedy to counter the impact of technology on the behavior of people, particularly children, nowadays,? she emphasized. Drugs and influence are twin factors that have been playing a horrible role in many crimes being committed today. ?The movies that depict so much violence are also to be blamed. The violence is not fully explained.
The movies only show how a crime was committed. Its impact can be countered by strong family values or a sense of discipline inculcated among children at home or in schools,? Puno explained. She also suggested that children should be taught how important it is to have a dream and then they should be helped to turn that dream into a reality.?It is their dreams which inspire children to strive and become valuable to the society.
They should have a concrete dream, a clear idea of what they will be some day.? But she was quick to point out that the violence or the crimes taking place all around should not be blamed only upon the Ministry of Interior. ?Unfortunately, the spate of crimes or the rising crime graph is a universal phenomenon. Crimes are on the upswing worldwide. These can be controlled only when people are godly or there is a fear of ?the One above?. If that were to happen, the spread of the culture of ?wasta? or the feeling that we can easily escape the clutches of the law will also end since we will then have the fear of God,? she noted.
Crime in numbers The Al-Qabas newspaper quoted the statistical report released by the Interior Ministry?s Research and Studies Department to say that 15,501 crimes were committed around Kuwait during the first nine months of 2012. With a daily average of at least 57 crimes, the official report further noted that the average crime rate ?increased by ten percent? compared to the same period last year. The report also indicated that felony cases including murder, muggings, fights and battery and assault ?doubled? in 2012 compared to 2011, and pointed out a rise in other cases including suicides and possession of unlicensed weapons. Further, the statistical report also showed that 3,906 felony and 11,595 instances of misdemeanor were recorded in 2012 as of September-end. Moreover, it showed that 906 crimes were committed by Kuwaitis, the most by any nationality (up by 16 percent compared to 2011), followed by Egyptians with 247 (up by 18 percent) and bedoons (stateless residents) with 218 (up by 16.5 percent).
By Ben Garcia, Kuwait Times Staff
Read by 888
?
Source: http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2013/01/03/crime-and-no-punishment/
epstein joshua komisarjevsky barney frank barney frank kim richards robert hegyes mary louise parker
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন