Lawmakers at odds over 50-year mandatory minimum sentence

 

Despite the Joint Select Committee of Parliament agreeing to a mandatory minimum sentence of 50 years for capital murder, Opposition Senator Donna Scott Mottley has labelled the increase as extraordinary and repulsive.

 

The Committee has been considering the Criminal Justice Administration Amendment, Offences Against the Person and Child Care and Protection Acts to determine the minimum sentence to be applied for both capital and non capital murder.

 

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has stated that the government is responding to the mood of the public in relation to the sentences handed down to people convicted of murder.

 

But Senator Scott Mottley says 50 years is too long for a minimum sentence to be applied to a person convicted of murder. 

 

"A 30-year-old person who is sentenced is an 80-year-old man. And the burdens on the state of taking care of the elderly population in prison is going to be devastating because we're not equipped for it," she warned. 

 

"Minister, there are so many people of that age who have every known physical condition to man. One has to take a holistic view of what one is trying to do. And whereas I know that the 'eye for an eye' and the punitive aspect of it is compelling, I'm just saying that we should look at the consequences. I believe that the increase in these sentences are far too dramatic," Senator Scott Mottley continued. 

 

She added that lawmakers should not allow themselves to be swayed by public outcry. 

 

"I believe that a legislator has a role beyond responding to the public. I do believe that a legislator has a role in guiding public sentiment and explaining to the public what considerations are taken into account when they do this very important task. Indeed, I think the legislator and the public should also put themselves in the position of somebody about to be sentenced. That's the kind of balance that I think we need to have."

 

Still, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck was at pains to defend the 50-year mandatory minimum sentence for capital murder.

 

"I think it should be high because the usual thing with capital murder is life imprisonment without parole. Why we should have that adjustment that it could be a sentence with a number for parole, is just in the event that a person pleads guilty, then the judge would be guided by what the minimum mandatory is in the legislation to reduce it. The judge might reduce it by 33.3 per cent or 50 per cent, you know, if the person pleads guilty, depending on the nature and gravity of the offence," he insisted.