00:00And to give you a preview, we have a note before Cabinet right now for something called a dissuasion commission.
00:10The announcement made by Justice Minister Devish Maraj as he wound up the Senate's debate of the bill to establish
00:16a parole system in Trinidad and Tobago.
00:19A dissuasion commission, Mr. President, will be comprised of certain people within the criminal justice system,
00:26a representative of the judiciary, DPP, AG's department, where small offenders, which contribute a large part of the intake into
00:38the criminal justice system,
00:40the dissuasion commission is going to review those cases to see which of those cases will go straight to the
00:48court system
00:49or who can be dissuaded through rehabilitative programs.
00:54Earlier, opposition Senator Melanie Roberts-Rajman said the opposition would support good law as she expressed concerns about the parole
01:02bill.
01:03You're looking at the passage of time more so than the risk, the safety risk that parole poses to society.
01:13I believe that leaving the eligibility criteria this broad is offensive to our lived reality,
01:21it's offensive to victims of crime, and it is offensive to sound lawmaking.
01:27In its current form, there is no distinction in the bill between violent and non-violent offenders.
01:34Defense Minister Wayne Sturge, in his overall response to Senator Roberts-Rajman,
01:38said that under the bill, the parole board would not have the final say regarding parole.
01:45The court itself would determine whether it follows the recommendation of the board
01:53or whether it rejects the recommendation of the board.
01:57Senior Counsel Sophia Choate was among the independent senators who contributed to the debate.
02:03We don't want this becoming law in the existing system because there is every indication
02:14that if this becomes law too early without proper training before proper culling of corrupt officers out of the system
02:25and so on,
02:26this is going to be a commodity.
02:30This application for parole or this entitlement for parole will become a commodity for which people will pay,
02:39and that is something which is very, very dangerous.
02:43When the Justice Minister wound up the Senate's debate of the bill,
02:46he identified what he called thoughtful contributions as he spoke directly to three independent senators.
02:53I want to give an undertaking to Senator Choate,
03:02Senator Dr. Hatz,
03:05Senator Murray,
03:08who made the points concerning
03:10that we are not going to put this law into an existing system.
03:16and we give an undertaking that it's not going to be implemented
03:20until we take all the necessary steps to make sure that this legislation will be properly functional.
03:27After the Senate examined the bill clause by clause during the committee stage,
03:31the Senate passed the parole bill without amendments.
03:35Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
03:38Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
03:39Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
03:39Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
03:40Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
03:40Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
03:40Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
03:40Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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