Debate on Sexual Offences Bill Resumes Friday

Debate on the Sexual Offences Bill will resume on Friday (July 17), when the Senate reconvenes at Gordon House, Duke Street, Kingston.
The debate should have continued last Friday (July 10), but was deferred to allow members time to study proposed amendments to the Bill, which arrived late for that sitting.
The amendments deal with, among other things: sexual violations of persons suffering from mental disorders; allowing convicted sex offenders to apply to the court to terminate his/her registration; as well as to protect victims of sexual offences, and witnesses, from having their names and addresses disclosed in the media.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Senator the Hon. Dorothy Lightbourne, advised members that the amendments incorporated proposals resonating outside the Senate.
The Bill, passed in the House of Representatives on March 31, seeks to amalgamate various laws relating to incest and other sexual offences, and includes provision for a Sex Offenders Registry and a Sex Offenders Register to monitor offenders