Amendment to the Criminal Code Now Makes Threats a Serious Offense
A decision has been made to amend the law to make threats a serious offense for certain groups of people. This decision comes less than a month after crown counsels who work out of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions staged a two-day “sick-out” in protest of their working conditions. For two days, right at the start of the official opening of the October session of the High Court, those sessions were interrupted and the days’ proceedings had to be suspended when five attorneys at the D.P.P’s Office called in sick. The Crown Counsels had been at odds with the government over their salaries and lack of protection. In a letter to the Attorney-General, Anthony Sylvestre, the Crown Counsels expressed their concerns over the risks they faced because of the nature of their job, prosecuting people who are charged with serious offences such as murder and attempted murder. The prosecutors indicated that many times they have come under attack because of their job and have been threatened. So on these grounds and others, the prosecutors’ sick-out was a silent message sent to the government and today, there’s an indication to suggest that the message was received loud and clear. Cabinet announced today that it has approved the introduction of legislation to amend the Criminal Code Act, Chapter 101 and the Summary Jurisdiction. The amendments will seek to expand the definition of the offence Aggravated Assault with the intent to offer protection to prosecutors, judicial officers, public officers, members of the media, teachers, elected officials and security-related personnel. It will do so by upgrading the Use of Threatening Words or behavior from that of being a petty offence to now being a serious offence. Along with that new definition of the offence is the increase of the penalty for that offence to run as much as up to five years imprisonment. Today, Home Affairs Minister, Kareem Musa told the media that the time has indeed come globally to make this kind of amendment, and so too in Belize.
Kareem Musa
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“We have seen across the world where there are attacks and threats being made against various public officers and personalities in the media. In some countries, journalists are even killed, and we have recognized that there is a sort of imbalance in the legislation. Those individuals who are very public individuals and who are oftentimes targeted are not protected under the legislation. If an assault happens, this is considered to be a common assault, for which the penalty is very low. And so we recognize the importance of protecting these individuals because they have certainly a high presence in society and it is necessary that they are offered at least the protection of an aggravated assault charge.”
Following the sick-out, Attorney-General Sylvestre met with the prosecutors and thereafter informed the media that security arrangements have been put in place for them. In other Cabinet news, approval was also given for reform to the Criminal Justice System to introduce Criminal Procedure, also known as a Plea Discussion and Plea Agreement Act. This is to establish a system of plea discussion and plea agreements in criminal procedure in order to address the backlog of criminal cases. It also allows for the repeal of the Penal System Reform Act to make new, expansive provisions for alternative sentencing that can be passed on convicted persons.
