Chief Justice pushes back at Chuck over child diversion criticism against judges

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes has pushed back against criticism from Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Delroy Chuck regarding the Child Diversion Programme, saying that no one, regardless of the office they hold, can dictate to the judiciary how the law is to be interpreted.

The Child Diversion Programme, which is grounded in the Child Diversion Act 2018, seeks to steer children between 12 and 17 years old away from the formal criminal justice system when they are charged with specific offences, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

A Joint Select Committee of Parliament is currently reviewing the law.

During a meeting of the committee on Tuesday, Chuck said some judges may be misinterpreting the legislation by compelling minors to plead guilty before directing them to a diversion programme.

The result of this, he said, is that minors could end up with a criminal record that could follow them for life.

But speaking to journalists on Thursday, the Chief Justice said judges are guided by the actual text of the statute and “not by the intention that persons may have in their brain.”

He further said there can be no direction to a judge — either from the Chief Justice or the President of the Court of Appeal — as to how they should approach the interpretation of legislation.

“Ministerial statements are not part of the law, and no judge, acting in accordance with the judicial oath and the Constitution, can take any account of that,” Sykes said during a meeting with journalists dubbed “A Conversation with the Judiciary” held in St Andrew.

“The text of the statute is the collective will of the Parliament, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate,” he added.

He said if the view is that the law is unclear, there is a mechanism to address it.

“Go to Parliament [and] change the law to make clear what is said to be the policy of the legislation,” he said.

Sykes noted that as a proposed law goes through the legislative process, Members of Parliament have the right, “and indeed the obligation”, to make their views known on the content of the bill.

- Livern Barrett

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