/ 11 Oct 2022
Defamation of Character Law in Jamaica

The law describes objections to defamation – three of which are described below. The law specifies that this is by no means exhaustive and that a defendant may invoke a defence that is not included in the law. The passage of Grenada`s Electronic Crimes Act 2013 arguably created a more limited criminal offence of criminal defamation. Section 6 of the Act provides that “[a] person may not knowingly or without lawful excuse or justification by means of an electronic system or electronic device. Grossly offensive or threatening information. 290 This defence is most often used by bookstores, newsagents and various service providers. Applying this defense to the modern age of social media, it could be argued that retweeting or unknowingly sharing a defamatory message would not result in anyone being liable for defamation, provided that the sharer`s lack of awareness of the defamatory nature of the message is appropriate. 197 See kellywarnerlaw.com/bahamas-defamation-laws/. Defamation is committed when someone posts words to a third party that contain a false attribution against someone else`s reputation. The publication medium is not relevant. Traditionally, our courts have seen cases of defamation between prominent public figures and newspapers, radio stations or other news agencies.

However, it is natural to suspect that with the growing popularity of social media, there will be more court cases regarding statements on such platforms. Conditional privilege protects publications created in good faith in a variety of circumstances. The last notable case occurred in 2005, when Gene Pestaina, then director of the prosecutor`s office, filed defamation charges against Lennox Linton, a Dominican-born journalist and director of Observer Radio, for comments Linton had made about Gene Pestaina`s suitability for the position of director of prosecutors.185 These comments are believed to have come from questions, Linton asked about the status of the investigation in several cases that the government said it would prosecute former ministers. Pestaina claimed that the statement ridiculed him and could hurt him under the Defamation and Defamation Act. In the past ten years, no changes have been made to dominica`s criminal defamation laws. However, the Dominica Media Workers` Association recently called for the abolition of criminal defamation laws in Dominica, coupled with similar efforts across the Caribbean organized by the Caribbean Media Association and the International Press Institute.247 These efforts have not been successful so far. Grenada also has a law that regulates civil suits for defamation, and this law contains provisions on criminal liability. The law criminalizes the publication by a newspaper (with exceptions) of details (with exceptions) of marriage proceedings and “indecent indecent medical, surgical or physiological details” arising from legal proceedings, so such acts can be punished with a four-month prison sentence and a fine of $24,000,283. calls for the reform and abolition of criminal laws on the defamation of books; However, there is no evidence of real progress on this front.202 Criminal defamation legislation in the Dominican Republic does not explicitly cover the Internet or mobile communications. However, it is possible that the established means by which criminal defamation and insult may be committed may be interpreted broadly to include such forms of communication.

The provisions of the new law include: the abolition of the distinction between defamation and defamation and the establishment of a single means known as defamation; Abolition of the criminal law on defamation so that a person cannot be threatened with imprisonment for what he says or writes. The law also reduces the statute of limitations for defamation actions from six to two years; removes the jury`s assessment of damages from a judge; and replaces the defence of justification with the defence of truth. It also promotes fast and processless methods of dispute resolution. The act of defamation and defamation makes defamation a criminal offence in Dominica.236 In addition, the Seditious and Undesirable Publications Act criminalizes certain acts of defamation against the state.237 306 See Freedom House, Freedom of the Press Report 2013, Jamaica, available at www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2013/Jamaica (noting that “criminal defamation laws have not been enforced in recent years”). The elimination of criminal offences of defamation, the regulation of an innocent broadcast or defence of the “wire service” and the delegation of the amount of damages to a judge and not to a jury were heralded as positive changes and undoubtedly liberalized jamaica`s defamation laws.