By Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter THE UNITED Kingdom Privy Council has handed down a landmark decision that it is unconstitutional to detain juveniles at the Governor-General's pleasure and that they should be detained at the court's pleasure, instead.
In handing down its decision yesterday, the Privy Council agreed with the majority decision of the Court of Appeal handed down in May 2000, that it is only the court which has the power to impose sentences. The Privy Council also agreed with the Court of Appeal that to detain juveniles at the Governor-General's pleasure was a breach of the Constitution.
The ruling will affect all juveniles detained in Jamaica at the Governor-General's pleasure because they were under the age of 18 when they were found guilty of murder, as well as persons of unsound mind who were unfit to plead to the charge.
The Privy Council said that, "A person detained during the Governor-General's pleasure is deprived of his personal liberty not in execution of the sentence or order of a court but at the discretion of the executive. Such a person is not afforded a fair hearing by an independent and impartial court, because the sentencing of a criminal defendant is part of the hearing and in cases such as the present sentence is effectively passed by the executive and not by a court independent of the executive."
Michael Hylton, Q.C., Solicitor General, had appeared in this case, because the outcome of the Privy Council's ruling would be a precedent for other cases, including the mandatory sentence of death in capital murder cases.
Lambert Watson is challenging a Court of Appeal ruling last month that the mandatory death sentence for capital murder is constitutional. The Privy Council is expected to hear the case later this year.
Although the Privy Council has agreed with a majority decision of the Court of Appeal that the detention is unconstitutional, it has disagreed with the Court of Appeal that it has the authority to sentence juveniles convicted of capital murder to life imprisonment.
Following the Privy Council's ruling yesterday, the court will have to implement rules for the cases of juveniles detained at the court's pleasure to be reviewed at intervals to ascertain when they are suitable for release.
The Privy Council in allowing Mollison's appeal on the cross-appeal, quashed the sentence of life imprisonment and substituted a sentence of detention during the court's pleasure.
