Cabinet has revisited its previous stance on alternative sentencing with the intention of its implementation and standardisation in the Criminal Justice System.
At a post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon said that this was done at Cabinet’s meeting last Tuesday.
Dr. Luncheon said that Cabinet’s earlier position saw the executive adopting the general aims, objectives, rules and procedures to allow for the introduction of alternative sentencing in courts of appropriate jurisdiction for custodial sentences of less than six months.
However, he said that “the feeling now is that this option of alternative sentencing, which is intended to avoid custodial sentence and provide for other options like community work, would have a number of benefits to the communities, the penal system and the convicted person, who would not have to spend time at the State’s expense.”
He noted that after the matter is taken to the chairman of the Judicial Services Commission, it will be decided as to whether it will be an option that magistrates exercise in their absolute discretion, or be a binding feature that is expected to be implemented under the conditions under which alternative sentencing is being proposed. (GINA)