Opposition Leader Mark Golding is questioning the constitutionality of a mandatory minimum sentence for children charged with murder.

A Joint Select Committee of Parliament recommended that a child who has committed murder serve 20 years before being eligible for parole.

Under the Child Care and Protection Act, the age of criminal liability is 12.

Making his contribution in Tuesday’s debate on the amendment to the Child Care and Protection Act, Mr. Golding said the proposed change conflicts with the protection that should be afforded children under the Constitution.

“In my view, these provisions in the new section 78 of the Child Care and Protection Act, as amended by this bill, are arguably incompatible with the right of every child to such measures of protection as are required by virtue of the status of being a minor or as part of the family, society and state, which section 13(3)K of the Constitution guarantees and is therefore arguably unconstitutional,” he contended.

Mr. Golding maintained that the long mandatory sentences for offenders when they are children are excessive and not in keeping with the intent of the Child Care and Protection Act, which he argued was set up to ensure that children are appropriately dealt with when they come into conflict with the law.

“Fifty years is a very, very long time…30 years for non-capital murder for a child offender…. This I think is really inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Child Care and Protection Act and indeed with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,” he argued.

The Opposition Leader urged the Justice Minister to “look again” at the new section 78 that the bill seeks to impose, adding that he is “not aware that there is a sense that persons who commit offences as children are being sentenced in too lenient a way, so I’m really not sure what’s behind this”.

In raising concern about the amendment, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights stated that the practice of depriving children of their liberty in the juvenile justice system must be used as a last resort, only by way of exception, and for as short a time as possible.

https://radiojamaicanewsonline.com/local/golding-concerned-about-mandatory-minimum-sentence-for-children-charged-with-murder