Split over detention

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Topic: Split over detention

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Garrick

MZ Super Veteran

Status: Offline

Posts: 6973

Date: 06:49 06/15 2008

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Indications are that there is a split between the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration and the opposition Peoples National Party (PNP) over proposals that would give the police powers to detain suspects without charge for up to six weeks, as part of its efforts to curb the islands crime wave.

Professor Don Robotham has been a leading exponent of the proposal, which is one of the primary anti-crime measures in the British governments fight against rising crime and the threat of terrorism in that country.

Last week the Gordon Brown-led administration secured a narrow victory in the British Parliament, increasing the number of days suspects can be held without being charge from 28 to 42.

Sources close to last weeks Vale Royal talks between the government and opposition, said the detention matter was among a menu of issues raised, but it was not agreed on. Tougher gun laws and the tightening of the Bail Act to make it more difficult for suspected gun offenders and persons charged for murder to get bail, are also being considered.

It is understood that opposition members, Dr. Peter Phillips and A.J. Nicholson, along with National Security Minister, Colonel Trevor MacMillan, are members of a committee that has been mandated to examine the proposals.

Gang rivalry, which authorities said was among the main drivers of the homicide rate and which accounted for 80 per cent of the 200 murders in May, has been characterised as terrorism, hence the idea to introduce counter-terrorism legislation among the menu of anti-crime measures. The number of established gangs nationally has reportedly increased from 12 in 1994, to 120 today, despite tough police actions, which have smashed several of the gangs in recent years.

While admitting that longer detention periods would help their cause, homicide detectives believe longer sentences for gun-related crimes and making it harder for offenders on murder and gun charges to get bail, should be prioritised.

But the proposal could run into howls of protests from local lawyers, who recently cried foul and accused the police of holding suspects beyond the 24-hour limit now on the local law books.

How it works in Britain
British critics say the plan to extend detention of suspects before charge to 42 days lacks proper safeguards and would prove to be counter-productive. The key element of the bill is the extension of pre-charge detention to 42 days, meaning the period the police can detain a suspect without charging him/her for having committed a crime.

Before Wednesday, the British police could only hold suspects for 28 days. The Home Office in that country gave four examples - a major operation, complex individual cases, the foiling of a major plot, and an operation involving many countries - as reasons for the extension of the detention period.

In explaining how the new measures would work, the Home Office said a chief constable and the director of public prosecutions would ask the Home Secretary to authorise the extension, which would remain in force for up to 60 days. A judge has to approve the holding of each suspect for more than 28 days. Parliament gets a vote within 30 days of the law being activated and if they object, the 42-day power is quashed. If they approve it, the power remains in force for the full 60 days.

Currently there is nothing in British law that prevents police from questioning someone after they have been charged, but police codes and practice prevent it happening at present. The new law would explicitly allow officers to further question someone on the same terrorism-related offence with which they are already charged.

The limited expansion of the power means an officer cannot charge a suspect with a minor offence and hope to use post-charge questioning to introduce more severe matters.

Under the proposals, judges may impose longer sentences where terrorism connections are considered an aggravating factor. In practice, the Home Office said this is aimed at suspects who are charged with a standard criminal offence such as murder, but the police allege the action can be associated with terrorist intentions.

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