The Gaston Browne led administration is preparing broader criminal-law amendments that would impose tougher penalties for firearm offences and sexual crimes, while Prime Minister Gaston Browne has publicly raised chemical castration for repeat child rapists.

Browne said a parliamentary sitting originally planned for September 18 had been deferred until early October to allow time for more comprehensive amendments.

“We are going to use the Parliament too,” he said. “We have to make sure that we have more punitive sentencing for firearm crimes, as well as more punitive sentencing for those involved in rape, especially statutory rape.”

The prime minister cited a case in which, he said, a man accused of statutory rape was released on bail, repeated the offence and ultimately received a three-year sentence. He questioned both the grant of bail and the sentence.

“That can’t be justice,” Browne said. “It’s not personal, but you’re in your ivory tower. I have the bully pulpit, and I’m going to use it until we start to get justice.”

For repeat offenders, Browne said chemical castration should be considered in addition to lengthy imprisonment.

“For individuals who are involved in statutory rape and would have repeated the offence, as far as I am concerned, that is a prime case for, at a minimum, chemical castration,” he said.

He distinguished the proposal from surgical castration, noting that the chemical procedure is reversible. Browne argued that the state must act decisively against adults who cannot control their sexual urges and prey on children.

He also warned that persistent public dissatisfaction with court outcomes could fuel vigilante justice, while stressing that people should not take the law into their own hands.

“We believe in stringent and certainly appropriate and proportional sentencing,” he said. “Our children must be protected.”