Another bill that went for second and third readings today was the Crime Control and Criminal Justice Amendment Bill. It proposes far stricter laws against gangs, and limits the power of Magistrates to grant them bail. But representative for Lake Independence Cordel Hyde sounded a caution about putting more men in jail.
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Lake I Area Rep.
“I think we really have to be careful here. There is no evidence anywhere in the world that suggests that longer jail time reduces crime. In fact all the data shows that longer jail terms are expensive. Studies show that locally it costs $4,200 to house a prisoner for a year versus $1,200 thereabout to send a child to high school. Longer jail terms never really rehabilitate anyone also. In fact it even becomes harder to reintegrate those ex-offenders back to society because unless they die in custody, they all come back to society. And longer jail terms lead to the mass warehousing of young men, in this case it would be young black men. Studies show that they make up 60, maybe higher percentage of the prison population. So I think we really need to thread carefully here.
Mr. Speaker under this new law, if my teenage son is caught with the wrong persons and he is charged with professing to be a gang member, even if he were innocent he would be denied bail. I know the response will be, ‘well he is a gang member and he belongs in jail.’ But not all young men who the police stop, search, and arrest are guilty and belong in jail. And if you are imprisoned once in this country, chances are you will be imprisoned again.”
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“I think they are a reflection of the research that he has done and I may even be inclined to agree with him that the longer sentences are not a deterrent and if they are a deterrent to anything, they are a deterrent to rehabilitation. But the fact is that longer sentences are a punishment, a greater punishment and if the problem has become a greater problem, this is one way of signalling to those that are caught, those that are convicted, that they will have to pay a greater price.”
There was some compromise before the final reading. A Firearms Amendment Bill was also passed today which also makes for far more serious penalties for those caught with weapons.
