Torture (Jersey)
Law 1990
A LAW to declare that torture shall
be an offence in Jersey
Commencement
[see
endnotes]
1 Torture
(1) A public official or person
acting in an official capacity, whatever the person’s nationality,
commits the offence of torture if in Jersey or elsewhere the person
intentionally inflicts severe pain or suffering on another in performance or
purported performance of his or her official duties.
(2) A person not falling
within paragraph (1) commits the offence of torture, whatever the person’s
nationality, if –
(a) in
Jersey or elsewhere the person intentionally inflicts severe pain or suffering
on another at the instigation or with the consent or acquiescence –
(i) of a public
official, or
(ii) of
a person acting in an official capacity; and
(b) the
official or other person is performing or purporting to perform the person’s
official duties when he or she instigates the commission of the offence or
consents to or acquiesces in it.
(3) It is immaterial
whether the pain and suffering is physical or mental and whether it is caused
by an act or an omission.
(4) It shall be a defence
for a person charged with an offence under this Article in respect of any
conduct of the person’s to prove that he or she had lawful authority,
justification or excuse for that conduct.
(5) For the purposes of
this Article “lawful authority, justification or excuse”
means –
(a) in
relation to pain or suffering inflicted in Jersey, lawful authority,
justification or excuse under the law of Jersey;
(b) in
relation to pain and suffering inflicted outside Jersey –
(i) if it was
inflicted by an official of Jersey acting under the law of Jersey or by a person
acting in an official capacity under that law, lawful authority, justification
or excuse under that law,
(ii) in
any other case, lawful authority, justification or excuse under the law of the
place where it was inflicted.
(6) A person who commits
the offence of torture shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for life.
2 Requirement of Attorney General’s consent for prosecutions
Proceedings for an offence under Article 1 shall not be begun
except by, or with the consent of, the Attorney General.
3 Citation
This Law may be cited as the Torture (Jersey) Law 1990.