Caribbean & Central America - August 2008 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Crime has once again moved to the top of the agenda in Antigua and elsewhere following the murder of a British honeymoon couple at their hotel on 27 July. However with no political consensus on how best to tackle the scourge, the situation is unlikely to improve in the near future.

On 30 July, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer announced that the government intended to revise the Magistrate's Code of Procedure Act in order to restrict magistrates' power to grant bail for certain offences such as robbery, murder and attempted murder.

However, chairman of the main opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP), Gaston Browne, dismissed the proposal, arguing that all it would do would “incarcerate innocent people for extended periods in the sense that they will be denied the option of bail […] What they should be focusing on is to increase the penalties for certain types of grievous offences."

Coupling his support for stiffer penalties with the need to protect “the civil liberties and rights of the people", he argued that without bail, innocent citizens could be held in jail for up to two years.

The opposition's objections also undoubtedly have a political tinge, with former ALP prime minister Lester Bird accusing the ruling United Progressive Party (UPP) of failing to engage with the opposition over its anti-crime strategy.  He complained: “The ALP is staggered that instead of summoning a national consultation on crime and security involving all the stakeholders in our country, the UPP leader is continuing to behave as an emperor and is pursuing his own agenda."

The ALP has been more supportive of a proposal to amend the Firearms Act in order to provide stronger penalties for gun-related offences. Browne has said the ALP will back this, but he has also called for increased funding for anti-crime efforts so that the government can recruit more police officers and purchase equipment for surveillance.

Meanwhile the leader of the ALP in the House of Representatives, Steadroy “Cutie" Benjamin, is currently under pressure to resign over his endorsement of a fraudulent passport application by a Jamaican.