Community Violence in Jordan: Reality vs. Challenges

Under the auspices of HE Prof. Dr. Maher Saleem, the Deanship of the Faculty of Law at Al-Ahliyya Amman University held a lecture delivered by Dr. Nayef Al-Samarat, Chairman of the Criminal Court. Dr. Al-Samarat said that this phenomenon, despite its existence, may not be generalized and may be attributed to several causes and specific groups. It does not represent the Jordanian society as a whole, he noted. These crimes do not rise to the level of a phenomenon, but they are related to the prevailing culture, frustration or feeling of equality. Dr. Samarat underlined the role of the state important institutions in addressing the various types of crimes and mitigating this phenomenon, whether before or after its occurrence, by considering and addressing its causes and dealing with the perpetrators up to pronouncing and enforcing punishment against them. He stressed that adherence to culture and customs and proper enforcement of the prescribed punishments may achieve the envisaged goals of punishment. This will lead to reducing these crimes so as not to develop to a phenomenon beyond control.