Privy Council ruling reinforces Gov't’s case
JFJ says Tafari Morrison judgment has not changed its stance on mandatory minimum sentencing
THE ANDREW Holness-led administration’s thrust to impose mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes has been bolstered by yesterday’s decision by the United Kingdom-based Privy Council.
Jamaica’s final court upheld the minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment imposed on a 17-year-old Jamaican in 2013 by the Court of Appeal for an offence committed with a firearm.
Tafari Morrison had pleaded guilty to the offences of illegal possession of firearm, robbery with aggravation and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He was 16 years old when he committed the offences.
Commenting on the judgment, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck said: “The Privy Council’s ruling today (yesterday) approves and sanctions what this Government has legislated that minimum mandatory sentences are not unconstitutional.
“The reason the Government intends to continue to impose minimum mandatory sentences is to send the clear message to criminals that the Government will put them away for a long time, especially in murder matters,” Chuck said.
On July 22, 2010, the Offences Against the Person Act was amended to provide for a minimum sentence of 15 years where the offence of wounding with intent is committed with the use of a firearm.
Morrison appealed against the imposition of the minimum sentence, but the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.
He then took the case to the Privy Council, contending that the sentence was prohibited by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Constitutional Amendment) Act 2011 and was therefore unlawful.
However, the Privy Council dismissed the appeal, stating that “the decision of the legislature to impose minimum sentences for children for certain crimes involving firearms in July 2010 demonstrates a positive legislative decision not to implement those features of the UNRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child), requiring detention of children for the possible shortest time”.
A joint select committee of Parliament was established recently to consider whether the minimum mandatory sentence for murder should be adopted.
As part of this legislative review, the committee will examine proposed amendments to the Child Care and Protection Act, which prescribes a term of not less than 20 years before a minor found guilty of committing murder becomes eligible for parole.
When the amendment to the Child Care and Protection Act was tabled in Parliament recently, Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) argued that the proposal to amend the law should have a clear provision for judicial discretion to be exercised.
In a recent Gleaner interview, Executive Director for JFJ, Mickel Jackson, argued that when sentencing is being imposed on a child, the judge should have the authority to prescribe a sentence that deviates from the mandatory minimum term of incarceration.
In a follow-up interview yesterday, Jackson said her organisation had taken note of the Tafari Morrison case. However, she argued that the justice minister’s remarks amount to “obfuscation”.
“The judgment is no vindication as the ruling leaves it wide open for future challenges to be made. One must consider that the judgment was made on the circumstances of this particular case, but the possibility of another case reaching the necessary threshold may have an entirely different ruling,” Jackson reasoned.
She said that JFJ did not argue against the mandatory minimum on the basis of constitutionality.
“We want to remind Minister Chuck and others that for those of us who have argued against mandatory minimum, the Tafari Morrison case outcome has not changed our position.”
She said that Chuck should be looking at the implications of mandatory minimum on the criminal justice system, noting that there might be instances where the imposition of the mandatory minimum would perhaps violate someone’s constitutional rights.
Jackson said that one of the consequences of mandatory minimum sentencing was a further swelling of the prison population owing to longer sentences, which would lead to chronic overcrowding in the correctional centres.
JFJ warned that overcrowding in the prisons could result in inhumane conditions in the correctional facilities.
“So I don’t want Minister Chuck and others to miss the argument and the positions that have been put forward by agencies such as JFJ,” she said.