Executive Director of Jamaicans for Justice, Mickel Jackson, says the mandatory minimum sentences being proposed by the government for serious offences are manifestly excessive.
Ms. Jackson was speaking on Tuesday during a meeting of Parliament’s Joint Select Committee reviewing the Criminal Justice Act, Offences Against the Person Act plus the Child Care and Protection Act.
The government says it intends to increase the mandatory minimum sentence for persons convicted of capital murder from 15 to 45 years.
For non-capital murder, where the sentence given is life imprisonment, the proposal is to increase the mandatory minimum sentence from 15 to 40 years.
Ms. Jackson says by its proposals, the government is effectively removing the discretion previously exercised by the judiciary.
Mickel Jackson, Executive Director of Jamaicans for Justice.
