Rights activists bash bail proposal
Published:Friday | June 4, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter
DESPITE TWEAKING provisions in one of the six anti-crime bills now being debated by Parliament, there remains strong resistance to the detention of persons for 60 days, albeit a clause for periodical judicial review has been inserted.
The proposed law - an act to make interim provision in relation to the grant of bail in specified circumstances - is still coming under fire from at least one human-rights group and an attorney-at-law.
Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, an attorney-at-law, told The Gleaner yesterday that changes to the controversial bill were insufficient to address concerns about an infringement of the constitutional rights of Jamaicans.
"The law makes it very clear that bail is a constitutional right and any attempt to deprive a person taken into custody of the consideration of bail is unconstitutional and wrong and oppressive," she said.
The bill now provides that a person charged with a serious offence would have to be taken before a judge who would review the case and determine if bail should be granted. Fourteen-day intervals of court appearances for further review would follow.
This, however, did not sit well with Samuels-Brown, who insisted that the new proposal was unacceptable.
"You are entitled to have a consideration for bail within a reasonable time, shortly thereafter," she added.
Fast opposed to bill
Convenor of Families Against State Terrorism, Yvonne McCalla-Sobers, said her organisation remains opposed to the bill.
"I happen to believe that the judges can do a better job than Parliament of deciding whether somebody should get bail or not. The judge is able to make that assessment on a case-by-case basis. Parliament cannot," she stressed.
"If you want a rubber stamp, get a rubber stamp, but if you have judges and you are paying them to judge, then we are making certain assumptions. If those assumptions are not true, then fire the lot of them; but if it is true, then allow them to make the judgment," McCalla-Sobers contended.
Debate on the six anti-crime bills will continue in Parliament next Tuesday.