KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC -The Jamaica government Wednesday defended its decision to push through legislation allowing for convicted murderers to be jailed for up to 50 years, saying it is necessary to deal with the increased levels of violent crime in the country.
“No one should think that ‘I can commit murder, and I can go and cool out for a bit in jail and can come back out after 15 years or so and commit another murder’. We are saying that is no longer the case,” Information Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon told the weekly post-Cabinet press conference.
“So this is us saying to Jamaica we hear the cries of all the people who have been victims and their families have been victims to murder,” she added.
Jamaica has recorded 225 murders for the period January 1 to April 26 this year, down from the 355 recorded last year. The country recorded 1,141 murders last year.
On Tuesday, the Government successfully tabled the amendments to the Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA) and the Criminal Justice Administration Act (CJAA), providing higher mandatory minimum sentences for capital and non-capital murders.
Under the amended OAPA, a person convicted of capital murder will have to serve a mandatory minimum of 50 years in prison, up from 20 years, before being eligible for parole.
The mandatory minimum sentence for non-capital murder is now 30 years.
A person who is convicted of non-capital murder and sentenced to life in prison will now have to serve 40 years in prison, up from 15 years, before being eligible for parole. Where a set prison term, instead of a life sentence, is imposed for a non-capital murder conviction, the parole eligibility period is 20 years.
A life sentence under the amended CJAA now equates to 50 years in prison, up from 30 years.
Morris Dixon told reporters that the higher penalties are the Andrew Holness government’s way of indicating that “we are serious about preserving life, and we are very serious about the rights of the victims.”
The Information Minister said the amendments seek to maintain the incentive scheme built into the law that encourages defendants to plead guilty while ensuring that the reduced sentence is not inordinately low.
“So you will still get that credit if you plead guilty, but the term that they serve needs to be sufficiently long to serve as a disincentive for doing this,” she explained, referring to the provision in the legislation that provides discounts to defendants who enter a plea of guilty,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Government is moving ahead with legislation that, if passed, will see children convicted of capital murder being sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison, with parole eligibility after 15 years.
Justice Minister Delroy Chuck outlined the measures in the House of Representatives on Tuesday following extensive deliberations by a Joint Select Committee dating back to 2023.
The Government has signaled that the Child Care and Protection (Amendment), Criminal Justice (Administration) (Amendment), and the Offences Against the Person (Amendment) Bills will now move through both houses of Parliament for possible enactment.
Chuck has called on all legislators to support the measures, saying that the bills represent a necessary and deliberate response to the levels of violent crime in society, particularly those involving the most heinous offense, murder.
“In respect of capital murder, where the offender clearly has shown not only malicious intent, but showed a wickedness that he should spend at least 15 years in custody. And so the sentence, Madam Speaker, for capital murder should be life imprisonment or a determinant sentence considered appropriate by the judge, 30 years, but in either case, the offender must serve 15 years,” Chuck said,
“This is reduced from 20 years we had agreed at the Joint Select Committee, and so we hope that the sentence reflects appropriately the balance not only the offender’s punishment but also repose in the family of the victim how this Parliament feels”.
The Government had come under criticism from various child rights groups after it initially proposed an amendment to the Child Care and Protection Act to allow the courts to set a minimum sentence of 20 years before a minor found guilty of murder becomes eligible for parole.
UNICEF and the Office of the Children’s Advocate also strongly opposed the provision.
Chuck told legislators that the Government seeks to ensure that the provisions in the bills are carefully designed to be proportionate, constitutional, and respectful of the rights of all persons, including the right to due process and the possibility of rehabilitation in cases where it is genuinely warranted.
“I know that this government is committed to justice, not vengeance, but we must also recognize that the punishment for murder must serve as a clear and unequivocal signal that the sanctity of life is paramount, and those who take it unlawfully must face serious consequences,” he added.
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