All eyes on sex offenders

Almost nine out of 10 Jamaicans believe the Sex Offender Registry should be made public, a new opinion poll has revealed.

The “overwhelming response” was reflected across all the age and gender demographic groupings, according to the latest RJRGLEANER-commissioned polls conducted by the Don Anderson-led Market Research Services Limited.

The survey, which was conducted between May 18 and June 7 among 1,033 respondents 18 years old and over, comes amid a growing chorus of calls for the public to have access to the database.

The poll has a plus or minus three percentage point margin of error.

It showed that 84.6 per cent of all respondents answered yes when asked if the Sex Offenders’ Registry should be made public.

“At 85 per cent, you would expect that almost everybody in the population, regardless of age and gender, are in support of this,” Anderson opined.

Some 9.3 per cent said ‘no’ while 6.1 per cent did not express an opinion.

Broken down by gender, 83.6 per cent of women and 86 per cent of men believe the database should be open to the public.

Anderson acknowledged that respondents were not asked to indicate why they felt so strongly, but noted that it comes amid “what appears to be a surge in sex offences, particularly with children being raped and murdered”.

“It was during a rather emotional kind of environment when that question was asked. But the overarching factor is that [almost] nine out of 10 persons that we interviewed, almost everybody, felt that the registry should be made public,” he told The Gleaner yesterday.

“I think that we can probably conjecture that people are so disgusted with the fact that so many [sexual] offences are being committed these days, particularly against children, that it’s important that they be made aware who these people are.”

NINE-YEAR-OLD MURDERED

The poll commenced nine days after Kelsey Ferrigon, a nine-year-old student, was raped and strangled before her body was found in a barrel at her home on Job Lane in Spanish Town, St Catherine.

Giovanni Ellis, the man listed by the police as the main suspect in her death, was out on bail awaiting trial on charges of cruelty to a child.

The Sex Offender Registry was established through the enactment of the Sexual Offences Act in October 2009.

The legislation stipulates that a person convicted for specified offences and who has not been exempted by a judge should register as a sex offender after their conviction is recorded either by the Circuit Court or the Court of Appeal.

Incest, rape, sexual touching or interference, sexual grooming of a child, sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years old, grievous sexual assault, and indecent assault are among the specified offences listed in the law.

However, currently, only the police, persons engaged in professional counselling of sex offenders, persons managing educational institutions where they are enrolled or are seeking to be enrolled, persons managing facilities that treat vulnerable persons, as well as prospective employers and employees of sex offenders are allowed access to the register

The Government recently disclosed that the law governing the Sex Offenders Registry is being amended to allow for Jamaicans convicted of sex-related crimes in other countries to be added to the database here.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com