Article 14
26. Under the Juveniles Law 1975, a "juvenile" is defined as a person under the age of 17. The law also provides that it shall be conclusively presumed that no child under the age of 8 can be guilty of an offence. There is a statutory responsibility on every court dealing with a juvenile "to have regard to the welfare of the juvenile and ... if it deems it necessary, take steps for removing the juvenile from undesirable surroundings and for securing that proper provisions be made for his or her education and training".
27. An interpreter will be provided for anyone who needs one in the criminal courts. In practice the only need has been for Spanish interpreters.
28. A potential problem with jury trials in a small country such as the Cayman Islands is that jury members may know or know of the defendant. In some cases, this could be to the defendant's prejudice. In 1986, the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Code was accordingly passed by which a person accused of an offence triable by jury could elect to be tried by a judge alone instead of with a jury.
29.
Article 17
At the meeting to discuss the United Kingdom's second report on its dependent territories, it was asked what kind of personal data could be stored on computer and who could hold such information (CCPR/C/SR.857, para. 31). There is no data protection law as such. All the Government's computer records are on a central system. This covers:
(a) A register of non-Caymanian nationals with dates of entering and leaving the Islands;
(b) Records of government employees;
(c) Driving and vehicle licences;
(a) The electoral role, as compiled every four years (this is not kept on computer between elections);
(e) Records of births and deaths;
(f)
Records of medical fees;
(g) Records of the Land Registry.
The last is open to public inspection. The remainder is confidential, access being permitted to specifically authorized individuals only.
Article 20
30. In the second report on the Cayman Islands, there was a regrettable omission of certain words (underlined below) from the definition that was given of "seditious intent". The definition is in section 47 of the Penal Code 1975. This provides that an act, speech or publication is not seditious by reason only that it intends: