Bad laws
Published:Thursday | July 15, 2010 | 12:00 AM
There is more concern emerging about the constitutionality of three of the six anti-crime bills recently approved by both houses of Parliament.
Public Defender Earl Witter has added his voice to human-rights groups, attorneys-at-law and the parliamentary Opposition, who have argued that the bills infringe on the constitutional rights of Jamaicans.
In fact, Witter has made it clear that he would be prepared to support a legal challenge to three of the six anti-crime bills.
In a letter to Attorney General and Justice Minister Dorothy Light-bourne, Witter repeated concerns he had voiced last year relating to the constitutionality of the three bills.
"It is my respectful opinion that these measures do not purport to have been enacted in accordance with the provisions of ... the Constitution, as indeed they ought to have been," Witter said.
Main culprits
He identified the main culprits as 'An Act to Amend the Bail Act' and 'An Act to make interim provision in relation to the grant of bail in specified circumstances'.
Witter also expressed concern about provisions of the bill titled 'An Act to make interim provision extending the powers of arrest and detention under sections 50b and 50f of the Constabulary Force Act'.