Advocacy group welcomes sex offenders registry

Advocacy group, Hear the Children’s Cry is welcoming the passage of regulations for the sexual offenders’ registry saying it will also act as a deterrent to sexual predators.

The regulations were passed in the Parliament yesterday, which means that the hindrances that made aspects of the Sexual Offences Act ineffective have been cleared.

Chairperson of Hear the Children’s Cry, Gillian Rowlands, said she is happy the registry is finally a reality.

Rowlands said her group will be examining the regulations in detail because they would want to ensure the registry doesn’t become another piece of legislation that’s passed but not implemented, managed or monitored.

The Sexual Offense Act was passed more than three year ago, but without regulations.

The sex offenders’ registry takes into account the sex offender’s name, address, alias, photograph, date of birth and places frequented and includes the offence for which the offender was convicted and the age of the victim, among other things.

Like our new Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/gleanerjamaica

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/JamaicaGleaner

radio@gleanerjm.com