Garth Rattray | From prison sentence to prison ‘sentance’

Parts of our Jamaican language come from broken English. People may say ‘furr’ when they mean ‘far’, and ‘sentance’ when they mean ‘sentence’. Some of us playfully use the broken version as a makeshift superlative. Therefore, when I heard about the new sentencing guidelines, the first thing that came to my mind was, “dat deh ah prison sentance!”

On April 29, Jamaica’s House of Representatives amended the Offences Against the Person Act and the Criminal Justice Administration Act. Previously, anyone convicted of capital murder faced a minimum mandatory prison sentence of 20 years before being eligible for parole. Now, that conviction fetches a minimum of 50 years before they may be granted parole.

In the event that someone is convicted of non-capital murder, the mandatory minimum before becoming eligible for parole is 40 years. Previously, it was 15 years. However, if someone is sentenced to a fixed term of imprisonment, the sentence must be no less than 30 years and the minimum time before they become eligible for parole is 20 years. A sentence of ‘life in prison’ now equates to 50 years – an increase of 20 years.

Minors did not escape the amendments. Children convicted of capital murder may be sentenced to a minimum of 30 years, and eligible for parole in 15 years. The Jamaicans for Justice organisation is seeking to have that part of the amendment made more flexible.

When someone is convicted of non-capital murder, it means that the convict took the life of someone deliberately with an intent to kill or [at least] cause serious bodily injury. In capital murder, the murder was committed “in the course or furtherance of certain other offences, including robbery, burglary, housebreaking, and arson in relation to a dwelling house.”

GETTING AWAY

Many citizens welcome these changes because it is felt that murder convicts are [figuratively] getting away with murder because they were being put away for relatively brief periods of time when compared to the hideous deeds that some of them have committed against their fellow-men. Several videos of prison parties with music and flowing liquor give the impression that some murderers are cooling out, on a paid vacation, with their room and board being paid for by taxpayers and not being made to truly pay for their crimes. The sentences were not seen as a severe enough punishment or strong enough deterrents.

In addition to harsh prison sentences, the numerous and increasing instances where offenders are being apprehended and murder cases cleared up, send a strong message to current and potential criminals. Whenever suspects or offenders challenge the police with deadly force and are sent home to their maker, that too is a powerful deterrent.

As an aside, kudos must be given to the Minister of National Security, Dr Horace Chang, the security forces, especially the police hierarchy, the police officers, the rank and file, and the good citizens who enable the police to act on ‘intelligence’. Without public participation, the security ministry would not be able to announce that “the tide has shifted” in the fight against crime and violence. Murders have dipped by 37 percent, major crimes fell by 19 percent year on year, there has been targeting of 63 gangs, the arrest of 159 known gang members and 34 other gang members have been charged for various offences.

Citizens are happy and hopeful when they see that the police are dismantling gangs, intercepting arms shipments and recovering many illegal firearms, in particular high-power assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The criminals went too far. They went on and on and pushed the boundaries of society until our citizens became tired of living in fear, tired of running away and becoming internally displaced. Their participation is bearing fruit.

RED FLAG

The significant increase in prison time raises a few red flags for me. Despite all our best wishes and intentions, justice is not the same for everyone. This is one of the reasons that I am vehemently against capital punishment. Those among us who can afford top notch legal teams will receive much better legal representation than those who cannot afford the multi-million-dollar fees that the very best in the legal profession fetch.

My other reasons for being totally against the death penalty include the ridiculous idea of killing people in a society that abhors people killing people. As a so-called ‘Christian’ society, we should adhere to God’s commandment … “Thou shall not kill”. Furthermore, there is the very real possibility of wrongly/mistakenly accusing innocent individuals and subjecting them to capital punishment.

Additionally, it is almost impossible for people of a certain ilk to be sentenced to death. The ones who dangle from the end of our rope will always be from the poorer class, from a disenfranchised and underprivileged community, and, of course, unable to afford the very best legal representation.

Lengthy prison sentences are being used to replace capital punishment. Therefore, the same problems exist – wrongly accused individuals, possible sub-optimal representation, unaffordability to or inaccessibility of top tier legal teams, societal handicaps that render some at high risk for criminality but are amenable to rehabilitation.

I would like the formulation and adoption of a system wherein individuals accused of [especially] serious crimes have their legal representation consult with very experienced and elite legal minds to ensure some degree of fairness instead of the wide disparity that now exists. This would be a state-funded effort at levelling the playfield.

Garth Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice, and author of ‘The Long and Short of Thick and Thin’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com