The Sexual Offences Act, 2009 allowed for the establishment of a Sex Offender Registry in Jamaica and the Sexual Offences (Registration of Sex Offenders) Regulations, 2012 details the operation of it. The Registry, which falls under the management of the Commissioner of Corrections, was established in July 2014 and is currently located at 12-14 Lockett Avenue (Kingston Gardens), Kingston 4. The Registry is headed by a Registrar and it is the location from where the Sex Offender Register is maintained and the affairs of the Sex Offender Registry Registration Centres are administered.
There are three main systems that are used worldwide to determine the registration of sex offenders; these are risk-based, sentence-length-based and offence-based. Under the offence-based system, registration is required when an offender is convicted for one of the listed or specified offences. It is said that the dangerousness or severity of the crime is not reflected by this system. This is the system utilized in Jamaica’s jurisdiction in determining the sex offenders who are to be registered.
Sex offenders, who are convicted for a specified offence and not exempted, are to be registered once the conviction is recorded in the Supreme Court by the Registrar; the Circuit Court by the Clerk of the Circuit Court; or the Court of Appeal. . Offenders are kept on the Register and are monitored for at least 10 years before they are eligible for termination of the registration and reporting requirements.
Currently, the four (4) Acts which account for the specified offences are the Sexual Offences Act; Offences against the Person Act; Child Care and Protection Act and the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Suppression and Punishment) Act. The specified offences are Incest; Rape; Marital Rape; Sexual Touching or Interference; Sexual Grooming of a Child; Sexual Intercourse with Person Under Sixteen; Householder Inducing or Encouraging Violation of Child under Sixteen; Grievous Sexual Assault; Indecent Assault; Abduction of a Child under Sixteen; Violation of Person Suffering from Mental Disorder or Physical Disability; Forcible Abduction; Procuration; Procuring Violation of Person by Threats or Fraud or Administering Drugs; Abduction of Child with Intent to have Sexual Intercourse; Unlawful Detention with Intention to have Sexual Intercourse; Living on Earnings of Prostitution; Offences under Section 76, 77 and 79 of the Offences Against the Person Act (Unnatural Crime, Attempts and Outrage on Decency); Offences under Section 4 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Suppression and Punishment) Act; and Offences under Section 10 of the Child Care and Protection Act (Prohibition Against Sale or Trafficking of Children).
A Sex Offender may apply to a Judge in chambers for an Order to terminate the Registration and Reporting Requirements. However, this can only happen if the registered sex offender was given additional periods or the Reporting Requirements were varied after the expiration of the Original Period of ten (10) years.
A sex offender who contravenes the Reporting or Notification Requirements of the Sexual Offences Act, 2009 commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction in a Parish Court to a fine not exceeding one million dollars ($1 000 000.00) or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve (12) months or to both such fine and imprisonment.
All information in the Register and the Registry shall be secret and confidential. Access to information in the Register or Registry can only be given to persons or organizations who are deemed to have legitimate interest such as 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.
The individuals and organizations highlighted above can get access to the information by making an application in writing to the Commissioner of Corrections, Department of Correctional Services, 5-7 King Street, Kingston or to the Registrar, Sex Offender Registry, 12-14 Lockett Avenue, Kingston 4. The applications should provide such information as is reasonably necessary to enable the Registrar to identify the individuals.
Where the applicant is not the appropriate person deemed to receive the information, but it is established that the sex offender poses a risk to a particularly vulnerable person or class of vulnerable persons, the information can be disclosed to a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Children’s Advocate or a public authority, who can protect the vulnerable person.
For Queries:
There is a Sex Offender Registry Registration Centre for all the parishes, except Kingston and St. Andrew where the Centre is a combined one. The Registration Centres are located at the parish Probation Offices and are the locations from where the Registration Officers conduct the registration process of sex offenders. These centres are equipped with the requisite facilities to receive reports, notifications and other pertinent information from convicted sex offenders, who are to be registered.
