Thoroughly enjoyed the interactions with this group as we navigated the Legislative Development Process. Always a pleasure to partner with PADF on the PRO-JAM III Project, which seeks to strengthen Jamaica’s Criminal Justice Capacity. One of the primary aims of the project is to provide capacity building to enhance legislative development capacity among key stakeholders in the Security and Justice sectors, through the provision of training in the policy and legislative development process, as well as the preparation of legislative drafting instructions.
Studies continue to show that ineffective legislation is often rooted in inadequate policy formulation and poor legislative drafting instructions. With approximately 25 participants from the INL, Jamaica Constabulary Force and Office of the DPP, Jamaica, we covered the following topics, among others:
1. Legislative policy development;
2. Preparing legislative drafting instructions;
3. Role of instructing officers during the drafting process;
4. Parliamentary process for the enactment of legislation;
5. Role of instructing officers at the Committee stage;
6. Importance of, and the enactment process for, Subsidiary legislation;
7. Implementation of legislation; and
8. Post-enactment legislative scrutiny and reform.
Armed with the training received, we look forward to more rigorous policy development that will enhance the quality of the legislative drafting instructions and ultimately see more effective and enforceable legislation in the future.
