Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Dorothy Lightbourne, leads a procession of judges into the East Queen Street Baptist Church, downtown Kingston. - File

Successive governments have introduced legislation to give the security forces and the courts more power to fight crime.

From the Gun Court Act to the Suppression of Crimes Act in 1974, and several others too numerous to mention, legislators have sought to pass laws to clamp down on criminals and increase the punish-ment for crimes.

The one-year-old Bruce Golding administration is following the trend and has already placed six bills on the table which it hopes will give it a stronger hand to deal with criminals.

Bi-partisan support

After talks with the Opposition People's National Party at Vale Royal, the administration emerged with the bills, which it said had bipartisan support.

"In enacting relevant legislation, we painstakingly sought to calibrate the powers that were seen as being required to deal with this new phenomenon with the duty to respect and safeguard fundamental rights," Golding argued.

But human rights and other civic groups were not convinced and they have expressed opposition to at least two of the bills.

It also appears that some opposition senators and members of parliament have decided not to toe the line and are demanding changes.

In the final meeting of the joint-select committee examining the bills, Opposition Senator K.D. Knight made it clear that he would not be gagged by any bipartisan agreement as he demanded changes.

"If I am not bound by them, then I ought to be able to make recommendations for changes. They may have had some broad agreement. I am dealing with legislation and as a legislator, I cannot accept simply that non-legislators and legislators at Vale Royal made some decisions which bind me," Knight said.

The six bills include the Firearms (Amendment) Act, 2008, which seeks to amend the principal legislation (the Firearms Act) to provide for a minimum sentence of 15 years for a person convicted before the Circuit Court for at least six specified offences.

Parliament has also been asked to amend the Offences Against the Person Act. This makes provision for a minimum sentence of 15 years for a person convicted in the Circuit Court for shooting with intent to do grievous bodily harm or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension of a person.

Limitations of the bail act

Another sweeping legislative move involves an amendment to the Bail Act, which would prohibit bail for persons charged with a serious crime for a period of 60 days. However, the legislation is an interim provision and is expected to be in place for a period of one year from the date of its commencement.

A bill extending the powers of arrest by the police will also be debated and, if passed, will be implemented as an interim measure for a period not exceeding one year.

On the matter of sentencing provisions, Parliament will also debate an act to amend the Parole Act. The passage of this legislation would mean that persons convicted for serious gun crimes would not be eligible for parole before a minimum of 10 years.

Six anti-crime bills

An act to make interim provision extending the powers of arrest and detention under sections 50B and 50F of the Constabulary Force Act;

An act to further amend the Firearms Act, to provide for a minimum sentence of 15 years for certain convictions;

An act to amend the Parole Act, to allow for persons sentenced to 15 years to life for specified firearms offences to be denied parole before completing 10 years sentence;

An act to amend the Offences Against the Person Act, to provide for a minimum custodial sentence of 15 years for persons convicted in the Circuit Court of shooting or wounding;

An act to make interim provision, in relation to the grant of bail in specified circumstances, for accused persons to be detained for up to 60 days on certain charges; and

An act seeking to amend the Bail Act, to require the accused to satisfy the court that bail should be granted and conferring on the director of public prosecutions the right of appeal where bail is granted by the court.