Lawyer: Wrong to make debtors jailbirds
Publication: Daily Nation
Date: Wed, May 28, 1997
Page: 5A
Byline: Terry Ally
BARBADIANS are unhappy with laws which jail their men for debt and non-payment of "child support" and want the offensive statutes abolished.
That was one of the numerous recommendations coming out of the People's Forum on Constitutional Reform.
The Forum comprises a coalition of several non-governmental organisations which, in the last few months, conducted eight public meetings to ascertain the views of the public on changes they would like made to the island's Constitution.
The recommendations, compiled from the 150 submissions, are to be presented to the Constitutional Review Commission, headed by Queens Counsel Henry Forde.
Director of the Clement Payne Cultural Centre, David Comissiong, a member of the Forum, said there were at least six laws which constituted "unnecessary criminalisation" of Barbadians.
Among them are the Debtors Act of November 3, 1879, which enforces a prison term not exceeding 42 days for failure to comply with Court Orders under the Maintenance Act (child support), and Petty Debt Act (commercial debt).
"Prison should be reserved for genuine criminals," Comissiong told reporters yesterday.
He said there were business houses which enticed people with their glitzy advertising and when the purchaser was unable to meet the payments, the businessmen were allowed under law to "criminalise" the person.
That same businessmen, he argued, could be accused of faulty judgment by not thoroughly checking the customer's ability to make payments.
He said this was something from a by-gone Victorian era which had no part in today's civil society.
In the case of imprisonment for failure to pay child support, Comissiong said there had to be a more sensible and practical way to deal with the matter such as court-ordered community service from which the money earned could be used for child maintenance.
"(Imprisonment) is wrong... It not only stigmatises the parent but also the family and by extension the child," he said.