Harsher penalties will not deter criminals from committing the act of piracy. Rather, it is the preventative policing measures, or enforcement, that would instill a fear of being caught.This is according to Deborah Backer,Wholesale Jerseys, the PNCR shadow Home Affair Minister, during yesterday’s debate on the tabling of the Hijacking and Piracy Bill, which was eventually passed without the support of either the AFC or the PNCR.According to the opposition parties, the Bill was not extensive enough, and they requested that it be sent to a special select committee, where it could be reviewed and amended where necessary.According to the Bill, presented successfully by Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, the offences of piracy and hijacking now carry a sentence of life imprisonment, and if a murder is committed during the act,Cheap Adidas Hockey Jerseys, the penalty is death.Backer also emphasized that the emblazoned headlines of death penalties and life imprisonment for piracy will only provide false hopes for affected fishermen, given that the deviant persons first have to be caught before any of the harsh penalties could be imposed.Backer said that the offences contained in the Bill are already catered for in existing legislation.She added that, had the Government approved the opposition motion to establish a Law Reform Commission, there would be no need for a new piece of legislation. Rather, a review of existing ones would have sufficed.The shadow Home Affairs Minister lamented the fact that the Police are already understaffed, and questioned where would the funding and resources come from to properly patrol the fishing waters.Moses Nagamootoo, a People Progressive Party Member of Parliament, did concede that the enactment of the legislation alone could not eliminate piracy.?On June 26 last, Rohee tabled the Bill aimed at increasing the penalties for the offences, given that provisions of the Criminal Laws (Offences) Act (Cap.8:01) relating to robbery and piracy are not stringent enough to have a deterrent effect on the crime.According to the explanatory memorandum accompanying the Bill, “Of late,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, there have been a considerable number of cases where sea-going vessels are hijacked or otherwise attacked, the passenger boats crossing rivers are robbed, or the fishing boats fishing in the rivers and territorial waters of Guyana are looted by armed robbers or pirates.If piracy, armed robbery and hijacking continue to be unchecked by deterrent punishment, the fishermen will reduce their fishing activities, the country’s food security will be jeopardized and the exports diminished, the Bill noted.The memorandum stated, too,Wholesale Jerseys, that passengers will be under constant threat of fear, and in the circumstances it has become necessary to have stringent measures to deal with these menaces.“This Bill, therefore,Cheap Jerseys, seeks to make special provisions for punishment for the offences of armed robbery, hijacking and piracy committed in rivers, internal waters and territorial sea of Guyana and the high seas.”When assented to, under the new piece of legislation, any vessel or weapons used in the commission of the act will be forfeited to the State. Piracy, according to the Bill, is defined as any illegal act of violence or detention,China Soccer Jerseys, or any act of depredation committed for private ends by any person on board, including the crew or passengers of a private vessel, and directed on the rivers, internal waters or territorial sea of Guyana against another vessel, or persons or property on board such vessel.The Bill also seeks to increase the penalty for the commission of robbery under arms to life imprisonment.As it relates to bail, under the new legislation, bail will not be granted to a person accused of murder while committing the act of piracy.