Crime bill to increase penalties for violent offences
dean barrow
The crime situation as everyone already knows is out of control. The fact that the murder conviction rate being below ten percent, places citizens under siege. Last Friday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow introduced a bill in the house that will not only increase penalties for violent crime but also target gang members and empower the court to restrict movement of offenders. Barrow says the measures are necessary given the crime situation at hand.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“To increase the penalties for attempted murder, rape, carnal knowledge and other offenses of a violent or sexual nature and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Again, I think the long title says it all and this bill has the recommendation of the Cabinet. To strengthen the punishment for crimes related to criminal gangs and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. This bill also will empower the courts to impose additional restrictions on the grant of bail such as confining the person out on bail to a particular area or to particular premises to restrict his or her movement to particular hours of the day. Again, Mr. Speaker, this is the other side of the coin, this is the other component of the equation we are proposing as part of the mechanism of dealing with the crime and violence crisis. This bill has the recommendation of the Cabinet.”
Mr. Prime Minister, either way, we the citizens of Belize will ultimately pay for boarding and housing these criminals. For those that you think will obey any restrictions imposed by the court while on bail is a joke, you better think again. We need to start using the process of illimination method by hanging those that have been sentenced for murder and those that are still terrorizing our country with all these killings. Our citizens need to know that Belize will be a safer place to live in the near future by implementing much harsher punsihment by GOB and our Judicial Officials for any/all violent crimes. We as Belizean citizens have to pray that you, Mr. Prime Minister will take control of all these nonsense as our leader, to make sure that our judicail system will stay the course and does not fail us anymore. After all you owe it to all Belizeans, morseo to your best friend that we are all praying for a speedy recovery.
It is a beginning step. But Belize needs a “three strike” law that severely increases punishment for repeat offenders. These laws are common in the States, and they work.
The way a three strikes law works is simple and effective:
For the first serious felony, the convict serves the prescribed sentence, say 5 years in prison for burglary.
If he commits a second offense in his lifetime, the punishment is doubled.
For any third conviction, the sentence is a MINIMUM of 25 years, up to life in prison.
Most hardworking Belizeans never commit a crime, let alone three. This kind oif law will protect us all from the few who make it a profession to victimize us.
Barrow is now taking the right path to restore belize and it’s crimed infested streets, something the people can look forward to now.
No need to add any more to what the PM stated here, because this is what belize need so desperately right now.
Question: how long will it take before the bill is actually put into full effect since the country is in a state of emergeny right now?
hehe what a joke finally after 300 murders this pm is trying to do something about crime wow it took over 300 murders for this guy to wake up and still he does not bring back the hanging penalty why ill tell you why because he is again doing the bidding of the us they are the ones who have caused more than half the murders in belize and this pm is to blame the us pays him money to take back all these gang members and where are they what has the us done to help with this situation ill tell you nothing and as long as this pm has his nose up obamas a nothing will be done so to all the families of the dead you have your pm this gov and the us to blame for it. again under this pm economy in the drain,education in the drain,tourism in the drain,exports in the drain ,crime way wayyyyyyy out of control, unemployment at 20percent or higher,wow what a great pm.take back your country belizeans.
I am usually critical of Mr Barrow’s Policies.However big up the Pm for heading in the right direction.We’ve got to start from some where.With that said we just don’t want these laws on paper.Lets get them into action or it will defeat the purpose of even implementing them.
It funny how these politicians are always ready to implement new bills, amendments,
and policies, all in the name of trying to curb crimes, and at the same time ignoring the
fact that (Poverty) is the reason why these things are going on in the first place. This every
growing gap between the haves and the haves not. (Classicism what a joke). These men
think they have the power to decide the faith for the rest of humanity, while lieing to the people
telling them that democracy is what makes them free. Mr Prime minister how come there are
more guns in the street than jobs? Do you really want to solve this situation, then get rid of
Poverty: any other move is an illusion. YHWH Yireh
ANOTHER PROMISE, can we blieve him?
FINALLY someone cares about our children. Lets ALL support this weather you blue or red. When our children are being abused there is none of those colors. I must say that the PM has my respect in this regard
Rod, there were murders before and we cannot blame it on any PM but just people going mad and killing each other.
PM seems to be wide awake now! Good job on this one.
LET’S WAIT AND SEE WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS……..In the mean time……
LET’S RE-CALL!!!!!!!!
i believe it is a good move by the prime minister. BUT I recommend that the cabinet brings hanging , lethal injection etc to kill these worthless people.(people who kill, molest children) Then truly we would see a decrease in crime rate in our country of Belize.
PM Barrow did not make the laws that govern our country. It is a good initiative but punishing criminals by hanging won’t help the crime situation because for one…….some of these criminals don’t even value their own lives. Stiffer punishment with imposing the three strick law would be a good step. Also, those locked up in the prison should earn their living likewise. In the prison, we have a lot of man-power that is not fully utilized. They should plant their own food, raise their own poultry and beef, among many other productive means. The prison should have an established cement block factory running in order to help poor people with low-income housing. Government need to cut the subsidy given to the prison and spend it in educating these people. Don’t get me wrong, rehabilitation is necessary but HARD LABOR teaches you the value of a dollar also!
bm you must be one of those belizeans living in the states only the belizeans in the states have your mentality why dont we teach them how fu dance dengue and and teach them to play dominoes and so on i dont know about you my friend but thses murderers arent worth my tax dollars thats what they do in the states it doesnt work hang them high tha bridge foot make sure they have panades garnaches an hops fu sell so we could enjoy the spectacle bt the way pm barrow hasnt done anything to prevent crime in belize infact he has caused alot of it by taking back all the gang members frome his buddy obama and the us gov who pays him to take them back,.
BM……… I agree with the HARD LABOUR THEORY!!!
This is a major step… however without addressing stiffer penalty for witness intimidation, and witness and jury tampering, NO BILL WILL EFFECT CHANGE IN OUR CRIME SITUTATION! We still have situations whereby high ranking officials and Politicians interfere, using their influence, when certain criminals are being arrested.
In order to effect changes, every arm of the Justice System must be placed under a high power microscope: We MUST FIRST ADDRESS the situation of corrupt law enforcement officers who are still wearing badges, the bias or corrupt Magistrates, the lazy and incompetent workers of the DPP’s Office, and our poor excuse for a Correctional Facility! Every leg of the justice system has to be on board with this ‘Restore Belize Campaign’ otherwise, we’re just walking time bombs before the next grenade explodes. There’s really no place for CORRUPT OFFICIALS in a restored Belize.
We really MUST consider alternatives for crime solving: We need to set up more street lights and cameras even if it’s expensive. Obviously the senseless violence is far more expensive when productive citizens are being terrorized in our unsafe streets! At least we can start by placing street cameras and proper lights on our main streets and busy streets. We really have to quit relying on the boldness of eyewitnesses to make or break cases. How primitive! If we have effective cameras and proper street lights, there will be less need to dream of DNA etc, as many of our cases won’t even need eyewitness or DNA. (A picture is worth a thousand words.) Also the man behind the cameras cannot be CORRUPT LAW OFFICIALS otherwise justice will never prevail.
It’s a bit premature to start singing the PM’s praises, as this man sat and watched as more than 200 more murders occurred during his tenure; he sat and watched as our children were gunned down, or maimed due to gunshot violence. Never before his law partner was harmed, has he ever even addressed the situation of the senseless gun violence inflicted upon our innocents. One will always wonder if crime didn’t come to someone he valued so much, would he have even bothered? Sorry PM, no fanfare for you yet.
well said disillushioned my hats off to you but the only thing is how will we pay for these cameras when this gov has the country bankroupted i say since the us is half to blame for these murders let them give us the cameras other wise ask russia or iran for them.
(rod) I am a proud Belizean mother living right here in Belize among the tyranny plaguing our society. I pay taxes too and came from the ghetto but chose to get an education and not live like those “wanna be american” lifestyle the gangsters and ghetto people live. Realise too that the larger number of the prison population are MEN who have children and loved ones—– hence the majority are not there for life— they have to come back into society and be productive at some point. It is those who lack simple commonsense and education that have no value for human lives….thus YOU saying “hang them by bridgefoot”. Many criminals walk the streets each and every day just because they are not jailed. Educate a child from an early age to respect himself, respect others and teach him/her to value life and he no need to know what prison is all about.
Now tell me Mr. Prime Minister what good will a new crime bill with stiffer penalties do if the legal system cannot even convict these criminals, I think that there are as much criminals working in the legal system as there are on the streets, before we can make any improvement with the crime situation we need to clean our houses first then maybe the camera suggestion will also work and if cameras are too expensive then maybe we should establish some look out towers around the city like eyes in the sky so we can monitor the neighborhoods in real time.
It’s a start however I would like to see punishment fit the crime: That means if you take a life, yours should be taken. I believe that taking a life is the fi-nal for that person, that person ain’t coming back.
That means you don’t get to grow old in jail, that means that you tax paying dollars don’t go to supporting someone who does’t deserve to live!
BRING IN THE GUARDIAN ANGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I second the hard labor theory….also the block building factory so that we can help the poor. I also believe that the prison facility should be self-sufficient. They have enough man power to produce their own veggies, beef, chicken and so much more.
Disillushioned and rod, I can agree with you guys but, “See me and live with me da two different things”. With all the political bureaucracy in the past (1950-1970), our Judicial System was probably not the best, but was much more professionally effective than it is at this present time. Very huge time difference and with education and technology today, you figure the rest out for me. I personally will not blame the PM for crimes commited within our country, but I can certainly say that he’s full of sh-t within the Judicial Arena and leadership of our country. I did not expect the PM to solve our country’s problems overnight, but the directions he has taken so far in my view is causing more harm than good as much as I believed in him. Rod, we need money fi run wi country, noh fi dish out weh wi noh got!!!. Rod, not to long ago we were informed by GOB that our country was $60M in the hold. Our PM hired his Ex-wife to represent our Government, she made a lot of money, and has nothing of valued benefit in return for our country that I can actually see. Instead, our Government was sued and ordered to pay some $80M by the European Courts pertaining to BTL. “Noh mek wi goh deh too far, …….”. This is just a drop in the bucket Rod, when you add favoritism, nepotism, and racism it all boils down to Corruption. Why racism, I will explain that to you and everyone soon. What I can do say now though Rod, that these are some of the problems that we encounter through out our country. We elect these Idiots hoping that they will fix these problems for a better Belize because of their promises only to fail us with above-mentioned attitudes. To be honest with you Rod, “We’re in a world of sh-t right now and we the citizens of Belize has to do something about it”. Our PM informed the Belizean people that we can “Get rid of any Area Representatives” that is not functioning effectively by signing petitions, then maybe we should start doing that to weed out the bad politicians and see where that will take us. Disillutioned, I don’t know if you reside in Belize or in the States. Until we the citizens of Belize can find a way to recall some of these Idiots within the house and probably (hopefully) elect fair and honest Politicians to run our country and transform our Law Enforcement and Judicial System to the fullest, only then will we hopefully restore Belize. Camera my friend is effective in any other Country than Belize at this time, trust me. They will find a way to make sure that you see only yourself in the photo and not the Criminals, or the criminal themselves will find a way to destro the Cameras, believe me. Heck of a way to think my brothers and sister, but we are all living it. For those that cannot see it, you better snap out of denial and face reality. You might think ih look good, but ih noh well!!!.