Whipping and flogging law to be abolished

Monique Grange, Assistant News Editor

Justice Minister Senator Mark Golding says the whipping and flogging law which applies to penal institutions is to be taken off the books.

He says that law, which was enacted in colonial times, is in breach of Jamaica’s international obligations.

Senator Golding notes that Jamaica is a signatory to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the American Convention which make the imposition of inhumane punishment unlawful.

He says while whipping and flogging is not being practiced in prisons or correctional facilities, the fact that it remains a law prevents Jamaica from ratifying the United Nations Convention against Torture and Cruel and Degrading punishment.

The Justice Minister says a bill was prepared from as far back as the 1970s for whipping and flogging to be abolished as a form of punishment but was never enacted.


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