‘Second chance’
Debate gets under way on legislation proposing clearance of criminal records for drug convicts and minor offenders
More than 100,000 Jamaicans who had committed minor, non-custodial offences more than two decades ago could have their criminal records erased if new legislation being debated in Parliament is passed by the legislature.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Delroy Chuck started debate on the Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders) (Amendment) Bill yesterday, a proposed statute, he said, that would give Jamaicans who paid their debt to society a second chance.
Piloting the bill, Chuck said the legislation, among other things, would introduce automatic expungement for certain old, non-custodial convictions.
Specifically, Chuck said offences with non-custodial sentences imposed and satisfied before January 1, 2005, where the individual has not been convicted of another offence, would automatically have their records cleared.
According to the justice and constitutional affairs minister, if persons were to apply to have these offences blotted from the criminal records, it could number more than 100,000.
Zulieka Jess, opposition spokesperson on justice, while welcoming the proposals being introduced by her counterpart, said the Government should go further.
She said that in Cayman, after a particular period of rehabilitation, offences that did not attract a term exceeding five years are automatically expunged.
“As it relates to non-custodial offences, and, if we are bold enough, offences which do not carry a conviction of greater than five years, perhaps it might be wise to consider having those matters automatically expunged,” she suggested.
Jess said this could help relieve the system of the backlog that currently exists.
At the same time, Chuck also shared that the bill would remove Section 7 of the Third Schedule, which deals with drug offences.
The minister argued that tens of thousands of drug offenders from the 1970s through to the 1990s, and even over the last 20 years, were caught exporting marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs. He said these drug offenders were only caught with drugs and were not responsible for any victims.
OFFENCES NOT EXPUNGEABLE
He said many have been convicted, paid their fines and served their sentences. However, Chuck noted that some 20 to 30 years after, their lives are still on pause, and they cannot move on. He said those offences are not expungeable at this time.
“There are many cases that come to the expungement committee, appealing to the minister for these offences to be expunged. The truth of the matter is we have refused virtually all because the Third Schedule restricts it.”
Chuck told members of the House of Representatives that in the last two years, some 7,000 applications had been made for expungement. He said more than 1,000 had been refused and the majority of them are for drug offences.
“People have said I have served my time, paid my debt to society/ I have not committed any further crime. Why can’t I get expungement?”
He said the list of persons seeking expungement for past drug offences includes teachers, pastors, and business people.
Persons who have had their criminal records expunged in other jurisdictions could also have those erased in Jamaica if a proposed amendment is accepted by Parliament.
The record of a conviction of a Jamaican national in a foreign jurisdiction may be forwarded to Jamaica, and when this is done, it is recorded in the island’s Criminal Records.
This offence, once recorded in Jamaica, remains on the record of this individual even if it is expunged from the criminal record in the jurisdiction where the offence was committed.
Where the conviction is for an offence listed in the Third Schedule, the discretion of the Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Board is restricted as it cannot consider an application for expungement notwithstanding that the law of the foreign jurisdiction permits the expungement of the offence.
The Criminal Records amendment bill is proposing to allow some foreign convictions, including those offences found in the Third Schedule, to be evaluated, subject to the board’s discretion, even where these offences may otherwise be barred from expungement in Jamaica. This enables fairer treatment for Jamaicans whose offences were already expunged in a foreign jurisdiction.
However, Jess called for equity in the proposed amendment, noting that Clause 3 of the bill allows persons who are convicted of offences in other jurisdictions to have their records expunged in Jamaica, but individuals convicted here for the same offences could not have their records blotted out. She said this did not sit well with her.
In addition, Jess is suggesting that the Criminal Records Board be allowed, similar to what obtains in other jurisdictions, to meet virtually and not only in-person.
“That would allow the board to hear matters virtually and on a more frequent basis.”
Debate on the bill has been suspended to allow other members of the House to make their contributions in the next two weeks.