Local child protection advocacy group Hear the Children’s Cry is welcoming the Office of the Public Defender’s launch of a forensic investigation into the operations and effectiveness of the Sex Offender Registry, saying that it makes the furore around the brutal murder of nine-year-old Kelsey Ferrigon by a repeat sex offender in May seem less of a flash in the pan reaction.

“We are actually glad that we are still on that topic because it would actually have felt like a nine-day wonder when it was escalated in a sense with the Kelsey Ferrigon situation. When we saw that, our team was of the view that in Jamaica we are very reactive and not proactive in our behaviour and responses to situations, so it wouldn’t have been surprising,” Hear the Children’s Cry spokeswoman, attorney-at-law Priscilla Duhaney told the Jamaica Observer Monday.

The little girl’s partially nude body was found stuffed upside down inside a barrel at her home on Job Lane, Spanish Town, St Catherine. A few days later police reported that Giovanni Ellis, who had been named a person of interest in her killing and for whom a manhunt was launched, was fatally shot in a confrontation with cops in Clarendon.

The murder sparked widespread condemnation from all levels of society with calls being made for the Sex Offender Registry to be made public in the interest of public safety.

On Monday, Duhaney said the group supported this view but with some guardrails.

“Essentially we, as well as quite a number of Jamaicans, we believe that the Sex Offender Registry should be made public but at the same time we are also thinking that we have to be mindful also of the implications that can arise from this. Our suggestion at that time, and still is that we can roll out a programme for different categories [of individuals who will have access to the registry] as we go along. It doesn’t have to necessarily mean that everybody at the same time will have access but start to do a pilot of more persons being able to access this information so that we can have a feel of how people will respond, the legal implications, and things that can arise,” the attorney said.

According to Duhaney, the clandestine nature of the registry might be providing the perfect cover for sexual predators.

“To be honest, we are also of the view that the fact that you are a sex offender you could have been benefiting [from the secret nature of the registry] and repeating an offence of this nature because you know it is private and not a lot of persons are able to access this information. So you have this sense of protection. So we are 100 per cent of the view that you should make it public, but don’t do it randomly,” she said.

In the meantime, she said the Office of the Public Defender should engage interest groups during its probe.

“We should have more discussions with the relevant advocacy groups as to what is the best way, how do we make this information more public. Do it in tranches until we see the real impact, the success rate of it as well as give everybody an opportunity to chime in to say what exactly has happened since the exposure and disclosure of the Sex Offender Registry,” Duhaney said.

On Monday, the Office of the Public Defender, headed by Carolyn Reid-Cameron, in a statement to the media said it has initiated a wide-ranging investigation into the operation and effectiveness of the registry, established under the Sexual Offences Act, 2009.

According to the public defender, the investigation, launched on the authority of Section 15(1)(a) of the Public Defender (Interim) Act, 2000, follows growing public concern about the registry’s transparency, accessibility, and its ability to safeguard vulnerable groups — particularly women and children.

“The Office of the Public Defender has a duty to ensure that laws and public systems function as intended, without infringing on the constitutional rights of Jamaican citizens,” Reid-Cameron said, adding, “this is not just a review of procedures — it is a holistic examination of how public safety tools must align with our constitution.”

Currently, access to the registry is limited to law enforcement, designated employers, and people with a proven “legitimate interest”. The public defender said “recent tragic incidents have prompted renewed scrutiny of whether such restrictions are achieving the registry’s intended purpose”.

According to that office, the investigation will focus on three core areas: Statutory Compliance — whether the registry has been implemented in accordance with the Sexual Offences Act, including resource allocation and procedural adherence; Operational Effectiveness — whether the registry’s access and usage protocols are successfully protecting children and other at-risk groups; and Constitutional Balance — whether the registry strikes an appropriate balance between individual privacy rights and the public’s right to safety, in line with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

The office said in the course of its probe it will review documents from the Department of Correctional Services and Ministry of Justice, analyse statistical data on the registry’s operation since its implementation in 2014, engage stakeholders from law enforcement, child protection, and human rights sectors, conduct comparative analysis with similar registries in other jurisdictions, and undertake a constitutional review of the current framework.

It said both the commissioner of corrections and the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice have been formally notified and are expected to support the inquiry.

“The investigation has started and will culminate in a final report that will be tabled in Parliament and made available to the public, subject to appropriate redactions for confidentiality and security,” Reid-Cameron stated.

In the meantime, Duhaney on Monday was at pains to point out that making the registry public would require other strictures.

“The effectiveness of the registry comes down to the administrative aspect: Who is managing and monitoring this registry, what are the usual follow-up checks that are done, whether registry is updated, how often it is updated, where are these sex offenders located, is anybody going in the area or community to follow up on these offenders, are they doing what they are supposed to do, are they reporting to anybody, are they on their best behaviour,” she said.

“So the success for us is not just about making it public; we believe that it’s more than that, and one of the most important things is the monitoring of the Sex Offender Registry,” Duhaney stated.