Senate approves laws mandating up to 50 years in prison for killers

 

The Senate on Friday approved amendments to three pieces of legislation, which stipulate tougher sanctions for persons convicted of murder, particularly those involved in the killing of children. 

 

Amendments to the Child Care and Protection Amendment, Criminal Justice Administration Amendment and the Offences Against the Person Amendment bills, were debated before the Senate after extensive deliberations by a joint select committee as far back as 2023. 

 

Under the legislation, individuals convicted of capital murder now face a mandatory minimum sentence of 50 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole. 

 

Legal experts and human rights groups have raised concerns about the constitutionality of the amendments. 

 

But in piloting the bills, Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Kamina Johnson Smith argued that the legislation are in keeping with the government's commitment to protecting Jamaicans against violent criminals. She also argued that the new sentencing guidelines should not be viewed as the government diminishing the discretion of judges to impose a sentence. 

 

Senator Johnson Smith outlined the tough new measures in the legislation. 

 

"Clause 2 of the Offences Against the Persons Amendment Act 2025 seeks to amend Section 3 of the principal legislation. And essentially it does four things. It seeks to increase the mandatory minimum sentence with respect to non capital murder from 15 years to 30 years; it seeks to increase the mandatory minimum sentence for capital murder from 20 years to 50 years to be served before being eligible for parole, Mr. President; and it increases the sentence to be served before being eligible for parole, where the sentence is imprisonment for life, from 15 years to 40 years; and finally, Mr. President, increasing the sentence to be served before being eligible for parole, where a sentence of term of years is given, from 10 years to 20 years." 

 

Senator Johnson Smith also made it clear that child killers are facing longer prison sentences under the new law. 

 

"Where the victim of a non capital murder is a child, the court shall add a period of up to five years to the sentence imposed. That's the amendment," she declared. 

 

Additionally, where the court imposes a sentence of life or a sentence of term of years, once the victim of the non capital murder is a child, then another five years must be added to the period that must be served before the period of eligibility.

 

In April, the government drew the ire of child rights groups after it initially proposed an amendment to the Child Care and Protection Act to allow the courts to set a minimum sentence of 20 years before a minor found guilty of murder becomes eligible for parole.

 

But Justice Minister Delroy Chuck told the House that sentence and parole eligibility for minors who are convicted of non capital murder will be left up to the court's discretion.