The vulnerabilities of Jamaican children make them easy pickings for exploitation by extremists, similar to the radicalism found in the Arab world, a study by university lecturer Dr Claudette Crawford-Brown has revealed.

Crawford-Brown’s claim comes with the recognition that many of the island’s children, some as young as four, are being trained by gunmen to carry out crime.

“They are watching drug shipments go off, they are watching criminal activities that are inappropriate for their age. This provides a breeding ground for later criminal activities,” said Crawford-Brown, a Fulbright research scholar and lecturer/coordinator of the Violence Prevention Programme at the University of the West Indies, Mona.

(Source: The Gleaner

Read full article here:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100503/lead/lead4.html