States approve Justice Policy sursis

Thursday 23 July 2020

Policy & Resources will have to return to the States by 2022 with detailed, evidence-based proposals for reforming Guernsey's justice system after a sursis on a 'green paper' debate was approved - meaning high-profile amendments around drug decriminalisation will not be debated this week.

The sursis was led by Deputies Emilie McSwiggan and Jennifer Merrett. It succeeded by 24 votes to 14.

Unhappy that Home Affairs' green paper, which asked the States simply 'to note' its propositions, lacked commitment, Deputy McSwiggan drafted a sursis that she said would lead to constructive review and recommendations within a set timeframe. 

"I was worried that this would become just a debate about cannabis, or drug decriminalisation more generally, when the reality is that there are so many areas of justice policy which are out of date and which need to be addressed urgently," said Deputy McSwiggan. 

Pictured: There was a lot of general debate in the States about Guernsey's drugs law, despite the fact that the amendments were not explicitly discussed. 

"A lot of good work has been done on the future of justice policy already – that’s shown in the Guernsey Justice Review report, which is attached to the green paper. I think it’s a real pity that the committee chose not to present the recommendations of that report to the States. I don’t agree with them all, but it would have allowed us to have a solid discussion about what Justice in Guernsey should look like."

Deputy McSwiggan's sursis aims to encompass some of the amendments that have been laid through the review.

Most notably, Deputies Marc Leadbeater and Charles Parkinson wanted the introduction of a statutory regime "akin to that in countries such as Canada, to enable the lawful and regulated production, distribution, sale and possession of quality controlled cannabis for recreational purposes.”

There was another amendment from Deputies Jonathan Le Tocq and Laurie Queripel, which proposed a more controlled relaxation of drug laws. That motion proposed moving resources away from enforcing cannabis use and putting more police time into reducing alcohol abuse and domestic violence prevention. 

The amendments could not be debated as the sursis was successful, meaning that further debate in the States this week was vetoed. P&R have been asked to conduct the work on the justice policy, while several committees including HSC will work on a substance misuse strategy.  

Pictured top: Deputy Emilie McSwiggan.