Several lawyers, including the President of the Jamaica Bar Association, Tenneshia Watkins, Wednesday staged a silent protest outside the Supreme Court here in support of their calls for a review of the mandatory sentencing provisions of the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act, 2022.
The lawyers armed with placards, some of which read ‘Tough on guns: yes. Tough on children: no.’ say they are concerned with the mandatory minimum sentencing provisions, particularly the restriction they place on judicial discretion.
‘We have seen the injustices in the system and we are now here for a change. The biggest issue we have is the mandatory minimum which has taken away the discretion of the judge totally,’ Watkins said.
Under the 2022 legislation, certain firearms offences attract mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years, but the lawyers argue that the sentencing regime does not adequately allow judges to distinguish between offenders and the individual circumstances surrounding cases.
Justice Minister Delroy Chuck is quoted in the media as saying that a repeal of mandatory minimum sentences is unlikely with the security forces crediting the measure for a decline in murders and shootings.
‘The legislature should not tie the hands of the judiciary,’ said one of the protesting lawyers, with another telling reporters the action ‘is the start, we will take further steps next week if it is we are not called to the table for a meeting….’
‘…by next week we might not be going into the courts to do any matter at all, we will continue to withdraw services until we get some attention and the discussions begin. It can’t be that a guilty plea is of no moment in this piece of legislation. You plead guilty 15 years, you go to a trial on your phone guilty 15 years, that just makes no sense,’ Watkins added.
King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie said that the protest must not be viewed as lawyers being opposed to combating gun crime or taking a political stance.
‘It has nothing to do with JLP (ruling Jamaica Labour Party), PNP (opposition People’s National Party),’ he said, adding that it has to do with the mandatory minimum sentencing that has to be reviewed.
‘It has to do with the fact that we have to look at this in a sense where, and in the context where, for the first time historically, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions also is aligned with our view that there needs to be a review of the legislation.
‘No one is exclusively saying that a 15-year mandatory minimum is to be removed. That’s not it. We need some kind of meeting. We need some action to review the legislation. And to say that murders are down because of the gun law, in my view, in our view, that is something that is absolutely a misfit.’
Champagnie said that while the lawyers must commend the secuity forces for the reduction in crime ‘and we are happy for tha, but this is more than that.
‘So let us not take it as a political campaign, as some are doing by pausing, publicising placards and so on, saying PNP lawyers and gunmen lawyers. We have seen it and it is actually very offensive and it is misleading,’ he said commending the Advocates Association of Jamaica and the Jamaican Bar Association for speaking up about their concerns regarding the legislation.
The protest was held under the banner, ‘Enough Is Enough – Silent Protest: A Fairer Firearms Act for a Safer Jamaica’.