A new Bail Act proposal for Jamaica was laid before parliament on Wednesday. Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte says the act will strike the right balance between the rights of Jamaicans and national security needs.
The Bail Act 2022 will repeal and replace the existing Act of 2000 and, according to Malahoo Forte, who tabled the bill, will address the matter of people being in custody without charge or trial within a reasonable time while ensuring that persons who commit serious crimes are not able to threaten, intimidate or harm witnesses.
“Witnesses are being threatened or even murdered. Many who provide credible intelligence to the police are often reluctant to proceed further to enable the police to convert that intelligence into evidence. Sometimes, Madam Speaker, witnesses, and immediate victims are themselves part and parcel of the criminality, resulting in varying levels of investigative complexities. These and other documented peculiarities in our Jamaican society necessitate innovative responses legislatively and otherwise,” she said.
Minister Malahoo Forte stressed that the legislation would not remove the constitutional entitlement that an accused has to bail.
“The Bill honors the entitlement to bail that is guaranteed in Section 14 (4) of the Constitution, which provides that any person awaiting trial and detained in custody shall be entitled to bail on reasonable conditions unless sufficient cause is shown for keeping him in custody,” she said.
Highlighting provisions of the legislation, the minister explained that Clause Seven speaks to the circumstances in which bail may be denied.
“Clause Seven (2) is a special provision in relation to defendants charged with the offense of murder where self-defense does not arise and where the murder is committed in the circumstances amounting to capital murder or where the offense is committed in a Zone of Special Operation (ZOSO), an area under a state of emergency or where a cordon has been established or a curfew imposed,” she pointed out.
She explained that the conditions of bail in Clause Eight are to ensure that the defendant surrender to custody, does not commit an offense while on bail or interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct the course of justice in relation to himself or others.
“The law provides that some conditions may only be imposed by a court, and these include the surrender of travel documents, imposition of curfew, and the wearing of the electronic bracelet. This is a new provision,” she noted.
Clause Nine sets out the general provisions relating to bail.
“Conditions imposed may be varied on the application of the defendant or the prosecution. New applications for bail may be made in defined circumstances, and those are set out in Clause 9 (3).
She said all information regarding the granting or refusal of bail is to be recorded in a prescribed form and to be disclosed to both the defendant and the prosecution. “This is for really greater protection of the parties and for administrative ease,” she noted.
The new Bail Act will permit a grant of bail at three stages –pre-charge, post-charge, and post-conviction in defined cases.
Minister Malahoo Forte explained that the bill sets out very clearly, who the deciding official is who will grant bail, noting that this is the judge, the justice of the peace, and the police constable, who is neither the arresting officer nor an officer involved in the investigation of the offense.
The legislation is to be reviewed by a Joint Select Committee of the Houses of Parliament, which was welcomed by Opposition Spokesperson on National Security, Fitz Jackson.
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