With Views Like This Is It Any Wonder The JLP Is Always In Opposition?

I was stunned beyond belief when I saw this sto­ry in the Jamaica Observer attrib­uted to Opposition Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte a for­mer Resident Magistrate, and now the per­son who occu­py the Air chair of the late Wilmott Mutty Perkins.

Opposition Senator, Marlene Malahoo Forte’s sug­ges­tion that expunge­ment of con­vic­tions under the Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Bill be extend­ed to per­sons con­vict­ed of all forms of crimes, includ­ing mur­ders, failed to get any sup­port in the Senate on Friday. Speaking in the debate on the Bill, which pro­vides for expunge­ment of con­vic­tions for using small quan­ti­ties of gan­ja, after between 30 months and 10 years of reha­bil­i­ta­tion, Senator Malahoo Forte, a for­mer Resident Magistrate, said she made the sug­ges­tion in the con­text that every­one can be reha­bil­i­tat­ed. “It doesn’t mat­ter where you have wronged, over time you can be reha­bil­i­tat­ed. It may sound far- fetched, but it is not impossible,”.

Jamaican Politicians have a propen­si­ty to let their mouths gal­lop in front of their brains. This is one case where it begs the ques­tion, “did she do any home-work in prepa­ra­tion for her sub­mis­sion to the debate?

We are talk­ing about expung­ing the record of con­vict­ed Criminals here. The Senate is con­sid­er­ing a Bill, which pro­vides for expunge­ment of con­vic­tions for using small quan­ti­ties of gan­ja, after between 30 months and 10 years of rehabilitation. 

I think this is a good piece of leg­is­la­tion which shows good will to peo­ple who have offend­ed but have man­aged to stay out of trou­ble. No one should be con­demned for life because he/​she was con­vict­ed for a lit­tle weed.

Forte went on to say ” “In some coun­tries peo­ple are reha­bil­i­tat­ed for the offence of mur­der. Our own Privy Council has stat­ed that not every­one who kills and is con­vict­ed of mur­der should be regard­ed as a mur­der­er, in the tra­di­tion­al sense.

This is a shock­ing lib­er­al tes­ta­ment com­ing from some­one who once was a Magistrate. The issue is one of the expunge­ment of records, which has noth­ing to do with the reha­bil­i­ta­tion of mur­der­ers.

This state­ment how­ev­er illu­mi­nates what I have writ­ten about for some­time now, that Jamaica Judges are crim­i­nal lov­ing left­ists who sup­plant the rule of law with their own per­son­al opinions.

How can any­one sug­gest that Society remove from record, the fact that some­one was Convicted of Murder, irre­spec­tive of the cir­cum­stances? Have Forte cal­cu­lat­ed that she is in jeop­ardy of no longer be tak­en seri­ous­ly? Assuming she ever was !

Jamaica is awash in crime and cor­rup­tion, many will legit­i­mate­ly argue that expung­ing records is not the way to go at this time. I believe how­ev­er that it is always the right time to be merciful.

We send mur­der­ers to prison to do time, then they are released back into soci­ety. That is for­give­ness. That is hav­ing a sec­ond chance. We do not wipe the slate clean, we keep a record of their deeds to inform and edu­cate us going forward.

Clearly Melhado Forte has shown her­self to be a feath­er-weight who is not wor­thy of seri­ous consideration.