PNP wants Crime Bills amended before giving support

Friday, May 25, 2012

PNP wants Crime Bills amended before giving support

BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, May 13, 2010

PETER Bunting says the Opposition People's National Party is not responsible for the current stalemate over the six crime Bills which are yet to be passed into law, even as Jamaica grapples with a spiralling crime rate.

The six crime Bills -- an Act to amend the Bail Act; an Act to further amend the Firearms Act; an Act to amend the Offences Against the Person Act; an Act to amend the Parole Act; an Act to make interim provision in relation to the grant of bail in specified circumstances; and an Act to make interim provision extending the powers of arrest and detention under Sections 50B and 50F of the Constabulary Force Act -- were put before a Joint Select Committee of Parliament in 2008. However, when the committee completed its deliberations after receiving submissions from a number of stakeholders and other members of the society four months later there is still to be consensus on the measures.

In March, Attorney General and Justice Minister Senator Dorothy Lightbourne said the Bills, which were lacking in some respects, were being redrafted. The administration has also said the lack of co-operation by the Opposition was responsible for the delay in their passage.

Making his contribution to the 2010/11 Sectoral Debate at Gordon House in Kingston yesterday, Bunting said the Opposition has consistently co-operated with the Government in the area of national security since September 2007 when the new administration took office.

"The Opposition agreed in principle at the Vale Royal Talks that some broad legislative measures were necessary to assist law enforcement. However, the actual legislation that was subsequently developed by the Government was presented to Parliament without input from the Opposition," said Bunting, spokesman on national security.

"It became clear that there were some specific and extreme features in the Bills, such as an absolute prohibition on bail for 60 days for a wide variety of offences and long mandatory minimum sentences, with no provision whatsoever for the Court to have any discretion on those matters... was manifestly inappropriate and oppressive," he continued.

According to Bunting, those provisions would deny citizens of even minimal judicial protection from abuses of power by State agents.

"The Opposition considered this unacceptable, especially in the Jamaican context where such abuses are prevalent," he said. He said, too, that two of the Bills were being passed by a procedure which would prevent the Court from considering whether those Bills were compatible with the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

He said concerns expressed by Opposition members on the Joint Select Committee, and representatives from various NGOs about these aspects of the Bills were ignored.

"It is for this reason that the Opposition would not endorse the six Crime Bills without adjustments to cure the specific points of concern that arose from the review.

"If the Government was more focused on tackling crime, it would have engaged in dialogue to cure the offending provisions in the Bills, consensus would have prevailed, and the Bills would now be law," Bunting said.