Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) has welcomed the move by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) towards the use of electronic tags to track registered sex offenders, but cautions that it has to be applied on a risk basis.

Commissioner of Corrections Brigadier (Retd) Radgh Mason announced that the department was working to acquire the equipment and put the necessary legal arrangements in place to introduce the system as the DCS seeks to strengthen its monitoring of more than 500 people on its watch list.

According to Mason, the DCS was monitoring 528 sex offenders, with just over 30 having breached their legal requirement to report to probation officers after leaving prison.

READ: Tighter controls coming for sex offenders

In an interview with Observer Online, JFJ’s executive director Mickel Jackson said, “We welcome any measure that can demonstrably strengthen the protection of children and other vulnerable persons.

“We are alarmed, actually, when you look at the rate of sexual violence against women in particular and children. So this is something that we cautiously welcome,” Jackson said.

Noting that continuous electronic traffic tracking is a significant intrusion, Jackson said it has to be applied on a risk basis, and the legislative framework is clear and subject to regular oversight.

“We have to look at moving towards a risk-based registry where we categorise persons as low risk, medium risk, or high risk. We’re talking about tracking people and the data protection issues that will arise,” Jackson said.

“We have to look at any electronic monitoring scheme; it must be targeted at those who pose a higher risk of further harm, and even in that categorisation, we have to ensure that the legislative framework is clear, it is subject to independent oversight, and it is subject to strict data protection rules and regular review,” Jackson added.

The executive director questioned whether the DCS had adequate resources to monitor sex offenders, reacting to the number of sex offenders who had breached their legal requirement to report to probation officers after leaving prison.

“Do you have sufficient resources? What other support do you need to ensure that individuals are complying with whatever conditions have been imposed? And would this electronic monitoring aid easily with the monitoring requirements that the DCS would be putting in place?” Jackson questioned.

Meanwhile, Jackson noted that JFJ is not in support of a public sex offender registry based on the current framing as an offence-based registry.

“The reality is that we have high levels of vigilantism and jungle justice in our country. We have to be looking at the safety issues as well. I do encourage people to utilise the registry right now because an individual could ask the registrar to give information and I think the registrar would be asking, do you have a legitimate purpose in seeking this information? And once you meet that threshold, then you could potentially get information as you need it,” she said.

– Vanassa McKenzie