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Tuesday, 02 December 2008
Parliament Tuesday afternoon started a debate on a bill to amend sections of the Jury Act.
However, the debate was suspended until the next sitting of the House, after Ronald Thwaites, Member of Parliament for Central Kingston, raised concerns about aspects of the proposed changes.
According to Mr. Thwaites, adding holders of Taxpayers Registration Numbers (TRN) to the jury pool would not make much difference.
He said, as it now stands, it is way to hard to get a TRN.
The amendments to the Jury Act, will, among other things, remove the responsibility for the serving of summonses for jury duties from the Commissioner of Police, to the Registrar of the Supreme Court.
The proposed changes will also widen the pool of persons from which jury lists may be compiled to include all holders of a TRN.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who piloted the amendments to the Bill through Parliament, said that additional amendments are being proposed to strengthen the ability of jurors to effectively render verdicts in non-capital murder cases.
"The object of amendment which was circulated is to retain unanimous verdict for capital murder where the maximum penalty can be death and in the case of non-capital murder, to amend the current provisions so that a non-capital murder conviction can be effected with a jury of which at least nine of 12 so decide ... so we're still giving sufficient room for as much certainly as we feel is necessary and appropriate to the particular case."
The debate will continue next week.
Parliament Tuesday afternoon started a debate on a bill to amend sections of the Jury Act.
However, the debate was suspended until the next sitting of the House, after Ronald Thwaites, Member of Parliament for Central Kingston, raised concerns about aspects of the proposed changes.
According to Mr. Thwaites, adding holders of Taxpayers Registration Numbers (TRN) to the jury pool would not make much difference.
He said, as it now stands, it is way to hard to get a TRN.
The amendments to the Jury Act, will, among other things, remove the responsibility for the serving of summonses for jury duties from the Commissioner of Police, to the Registrar of the Supreme Court.
The proposed changes will also widen the pool of persons from which jury lists may be compiled to include all holders of a TRN.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who piloted the amendments to the Bill through Parliament, said that additional amendments are being proposed to strengthen the ability of jurors to effectively render verdicts in non-capital murder cases.
"The object of amendment which was circulated is to retain unanimous verdict for capital murder where the maximum penalty can be death and in the case of non-capital murder, to amend the current provisions so that a non-capital murder conviction can be effected with a jury of which at least nine of 12 so decide ... so we're still giving sufficient room for as much certainly as we feel is necessary and appropriate to the particular case."
The debate will continue next week.