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The Cabinet has approved changes to the legislation governing plea-bargaining that should sweep away concerns that conflicting laws might jeopardise criminals' ability to rat out cronies and spend less time behind bars.
"The amendments will allow a judge or resident magistrate to impose a sentence less than the mandatory minimum sentence that can be imposed under the law," Information Minister Daryl Vaz told journalists yesterday.
"This will be applicable in circumstances where an accused who was the subject of a plea negotiation was charged with an offence which attracted a mandatory minimum penalty," added Vaz.
He noted that the amendment will afford the accused the intended advantage of a sentence reduction based on the plea deal.
This should satisfy critics of the six new anti-crime bills recently approved by the House of Representatives.
Critics of the bills had argued that by imposing minimum sentences for some crimes, the bills could negate the aim of the plea-bargaining legislation.
Long, hard road to law
The police have long called for the introduction of plea-bargaining, and in November 2005, the Senate passed the Criminal Justice (Plea Negotiations and Agreements) Act to pave the way for the implementation of structured plea-bargaining.
That came five years after the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum report first pitched the plea-bargaining recommendation to the Government.
But since then, the legislation has stalled, awaiting the necessary regulations.
This has angered the police, led by Commissioner Owen Ellington.
"If we had plea-bargaining, every gangster would want to be the one caught first because he would be the only one who would be allowed to plea and get a lighter sentence.
"If we had plea-bargaining, we would not need to infiltrate gangs. All we would need to do is arrest one and get that arrested gangster on our side," Ellington said recently.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead3.html
"The amendments will allow a judge or resident magistrate to impose a sentence less than the mandatory minimum sentence that can be imposed under the law," Information Minister Daryl Vaz told journalists yesterday.
"This will be applicable in circumstances where an accused who was the subject of a plea negotiation was charged with an offence which attracted a mandatory minimum penalty," added Vaz.
He noted that the amendment will afford the accused the intended advantage of a sentence reduction based on the plea deal.
This should satisfy critics of the six new anti-crime bills recently approved by the House of Representatives.
Critics of the bills had argued that by imposing minimum sentences for some crimes, the bills could negate the aim of the plea-bargaining legislation.
Long, hard road to law
The police have long called for the introduction of plea-bargaining, and in November 2005, the Senate passed the Criminal Justice (Plea Negotiations and Agreements) Act to pave the way for the implementation of structured plea-bargaining.
That came five years after the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum report first pitched the plea-bargaining recommendation to the Government.
But since then, the legislation has stalled, awaiting the necessary regulations.
This has angered the police, led by Commissioner Owen Ellington.
"If we had plea-bargaining, every gangster would want to be the one caught first because he would be the only one who would be allowed to plea and get a lighter sentence.
"If we had plea-bargaining, we would not need to infiltrate gangs. All we would need to do is arrest one and get that arrested gangster on our side," Ellington said recently.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead3.html
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