Policy Brief : The Jamaican Sex Offender Registry.

Alexandra Shaw
Mar 23, 2023
7 min read

A holistic approach to a safer Jamaica.

Jamaica has established a practically inaccessible sex offender Registry. Governed by unequal and outdated laws, the Registry is fueled by societies’ conflicting religious and cultural norms while being enforced by minimally trained law enforcement officers. Locals and visitors alike have fallen victim, figuratively and literally, to its inaccuracies and poor structure, exposing the highly problematic and ingrained inconsistencies in the country’s legal system and emphasizing the immediate need for revision.

This policy brief explores a holistic approach in restructuring the framework of Jamaica’s sex offender Registry. By focusing on methodically implementing education-based initiatives, as well as making amendments to existing regulations and procedures, this policy paves a path for actual and lasting change and an overall safer Jamaica.

The sex offender registry in Jamaica is not universally accessible to all Jamaicans. Established in 2014, it is governed by the Sexual Offences Act of 2009 and the guidelines for its operations are found in The Sexual Offences Regulations of 2012. Jamaica uses an offense-based system that determines the registration of a sex offender, however, the registration can be exempted by a judge for the following reasons:

“...the conviction of the offender being a first time conviction for a specified offence, the offender being a child, the sentence imposed for the offence being of minimal severity, or the Judge being satisfied that the effect of the imposition of such requirements on the offender, including on his privacy or liberty, would be grossly disproportionate to the public interest to be achieved by registering the offender as a sex offender.” (Section30)

According to The Sexual Offences Regulations, the sex offender registry is meant to be kept “secret and confidential, (Regulation 10)” with access to it only being given to those who are deemed to have a “legitimate interest.(Regulation 12)” Those who can access the particulars of the sex offender include:

“Members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force; persons engaged in the professional counselling of sex offenders; prospective employers and employees of the sex offender; persons managing facilities for the care or treatment of vulnerable persons at which the sex offender is, or has applied to be, a patient, employee or volunteer; persons managing educational institutions at which the sex offender is enrolled or is seeking to enroll; persons acquiring information approved by the Minister for statistical purposes; and a parent, guardian, caregiver, nearest relative or person having an association with the sex offender.” ( Regulations 12 and 13)

If you fall into the “legitimate” category, a written application has to be submitted to the Commissioner of Corrections and only when the applicant is deemed to be the “ appropriate person” to receive the information, will the information in the registry be disclosed. (Regulation 15)

The most recent statistics available on the Registry, which are publicly available, are from August 2021, and were obtained by an Access to Information request from the Jamaica Gleaner, a major newspaper company on the island. It has been disclosed that there are 331 persons, in total, that are currently on the Sex Offender Registry. This number, however, does not accurately reflect the crime statistics that are reported in Jamaica. In 2021 alone the official report made by The Jamaica Constabulary Force showed that there were 339 cases of rape, which does not include the number of sexual assaults or unreported incidents, all of which are challenged in the criminal justice system in many instances.

Jamaica’s legal stance on rape or sexual assault is considered bilateral, with the police force and legal documents. The Jamaican police force has often been criticized for its handling and approach to sexual assault. In 2018 the U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory warning U.S. citizens that “sexual assaults occur frequently, even at all-inclusive resorts. Local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents…[they are] underpaid, poorly trained and understaffed."

In the Sexual Offences Act, the laws end up being gender-specific, often omitting males as victims (Section 3). The Act defines sexual intercourse as “the penetration of the vagina of one person by the penis of another person (Section 2).” The law as is, results in many excluded and vulnerable persons while providing perpetrators loopholes in the system allowing for many acquittals.

The acquittals are also rooted in certain socio-cultural norms. Political scientist, Dr. Leanne Levers explains that in Jamaica, certain cultural aspects “...sex offenders to fall outside of the monitoring regime established in law.” Some of these thoughts have also been voiced by the Prime Minister of Jamaica, along with other government officials who had paralleled aspects of pop culture with domestic violence, particularly dancehall music.

With low conviction rates fueled by a widespread understanding of the limitations of local police, coupled with particular cultural norms in both the cultural and legal sectors, the current structure of the registry leaves many victims voiceless, and allows perpetrators to remain at large which opens the door for recidivist behavior, and closes the door on the proper protection of Jamaican citizens.

While the ultimate goal of this policy brief would be to present a new policy that implements a more open or unrestricted access to the sex offender registry for Jamaicans, it is important to recognize that there are pre-existing ideologies in the Jamaican society that dictate how citizens understand and interact with factors that surround the registry, specifically in the realms of sex, gender and violence. Taking this into consideration, the way to then reform the policies of the registry, is by starting on a community wide scale, and then slowly restructuring various aspects of the actual registry itself.

A focus on the structure of the guidelines themselves is paramount and the first necessary step in ensuring that at least theoretically, the laws will reflect an equal and inclusive society. The Registry is governed by the Sexual Offences Act, and in it the regulations are exclusive in its directives and vocabulary (Section 3). Changing, or better yet, lobbying for change on how laws surrounding sex and gender are worded can help provide a better representation of victims in the eyes of the law.

Restructuring these laws also contribute to a change in the way they are approached by the police force and government officials. This then opens the door for another necessary step in the reformation of the existing policy - which is to provide law enforcement and government officials with training opportunities, tools, resources, and support when dealing with or understanding sexual violence. Research shows that while there is a universal lack of knowledge in this realm for officials, providing this education can significantly benefit those that receive it on both a professional and individual level.

Community education on a whole is also an important step in ensuring that the sex offender registry is effectively understood and utilized. There are several problematic social and cultural norms in Jamaica surrounding women and sex, which fuels various stigma and stereotypes. Some of these norms are deeply integrated into the society which unfortunately does not allow much room for them to be changed, however, if the norms cannot be immediately changed, we can aim to change the approach and response to them. Education initiatives will of course benefit victims themselves, create more informed citizens, and can help protect those that are vulnerable or exposed to unfavorable circumstances.

With the above suggestions implemented, there will be room for reworking some existing rules and policies regarding the actual sex offender registry. In particular, the laws on those who have access to it, under what circumstances they can do so, and how they will receive access. Slightly altering some of the permissions allows the registry, and knowledge of it, to be integrated into society at a pace that will appease the existing norms while introducing it in ways and circumstances that did not exist before.

Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes to the problems at hand, and hasty implementation of a totally accessible registry could potentially cause more harm than good. Therefore, it is important to respect the existing structure of the policy in a cultural context, while simultaneously creating pathways for lasting change and understanding on both an individual and community level. A methodical approach to altering this policy allows room for growth, and makes way for new transformations of the laws to emerge

The following are the specific recommendations of the new proposed policy:

● Modify the definitions of sexual intercourse, rape (page 3), and marital rape (page 5 ) in the Sexual Offences Act with the aim of providing an equal and inclusive understanding of rape and intercourse in the eyes of the law.

● Modify regulations 11-15 in the Sexual Offences Regulations (pages 9&10) by expanding the list of those who can access the Registry to include prospective and new homeowners, and parents of children under 18, as well as creating alternative ways to make an appeal other than in writing.

● Mandatory and continued education for all law enforcement and government officials, not just those appointed to Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse, through collaboration with international bodies or adopting the existing successful framework.

● Formulating a human rights NGO with a branch specifically handling sex, that is not politically or religiously affiliated, that provides advocacy and education initiatives, as well as resources, for organizations, schools, and communities.

● Mandating that the Registrar or Commissioner of Correction provide biyearly non-identifying updates to the general public on offenders in the Sex Offender Registry, such as general locations, statistics, and possibly repeat offenders.

APPENDIX

Baldas, T. (2018, October 30) Resorts in Jamaica are facing a 'historic' sexual assault problem. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/10/30/jamaica-resorts-tripadvisor-sexual-assault/1520587002/ Barrett, L. (2021, August 28). 300 registered sex offenders in Jamaica. The Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20210828/300-registered-sex-offenders-jamaica. Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse. (n.d) UN Women. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://evaw-global-database.unwomen.org/en/countries/americas/jamaica/1989/centre-for-the-investigation-of-sexual-offences-and-child-abuse Dancehall as crime trigger. (2022, August 19). The Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20220819/dancehall-crime-trigger Holness slams entertainers for violent music. (2021, March 31). The Jamaica Star. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from http://jamaica-star.com/article/news/20210331/holness-slams-entertainers-violent-music Holtemeyer, J and M. Rizzo. 2018. Understanding, Investigating, and Responding to Sexual Assault. Community Policing Dispatch, 11 (4). Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/04-2018/iacp_resources_article.html Jamaica: Sexual violence against women and ... - Amnesty International. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/amr380022006en.pdf Lewis, E. (2016, April 23). Jamaica's Christian Conservatives Point Fingers at International Agencies Over Comprehensive Sex Education. Global Voices. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://globalvoices.org/2016/04/23/jamaicas-christian-conservatives-point-fingers-at-international-agencies-over-comprehensive-sex-education/ Lyons, R. (2021, December 5). Rape Crisis! Jamaica Observer.Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/rape-crisis/ Patterson, C. (2016, April). Police to Receive Domestic Violence Training. Jamaica Information Service. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://jis.gov.jm/police-receive-domestic-violence-training/ Serious Crimes Report for January 1 to September 17. (2022). Jamaica Constabulary Force. Retrieved December 4, 2022, from https://jcf.gov.jm/stats/ The Sexual Offences Act, (2009). Retrieved December 4, 2022, from ttps://japarliament.gov.jm/attachments/341_The%20Sexual%20Offences%20Act,%202009.pdf) The Sexual Offences (Registration of Sex Offenders) Regulations, (2012). Retrieved December 4, 2022, from http://japarliament.gov.jm/attachments/412_The%20Sexual%20Offences%20%28Registration%20of%20Sex%20Offenders%29%20Regulations,%202012.pdf

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