Mr. Ouahbi underlines the essential need to adopt alternative sentences system to freedom deprivation
Diagnosis of the Moroccan judiciary system has revealed the essential need to adopt alternative sentences to freedom deprivation in the repressive and national penal code, has stated Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi.
Mr. Ouahbi, who intervened during a seminar organized on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 by the presidency of Public Ministry on “alternative sentences to freedom-deprived sentences” has indicated that the necessity to install alternative sentences system is justified by characteristics of prisons population in Morocco, which reveal that 40% of detained persons are sentenced to imprisonment of less than two years.
According to the Minister, sentences of two years and less represent 44.97% of the overall sentences pronounced in 2020; the fact which negatively affects the situation inside penitential establishments and so undermines efforts and measures made by public authorities to carry out rehabilitation programs and rationalization of expenses, adding that practice has shown the insufficiency of freedom-deprived sentences of short terms to ensure required dissuasion and limit recidivism.
The Minister has disclosed that alternative sentences bill has become a major stake the Justice Ministry is working on to accelerate and concretize on the ground, and this through the adoption of appropriate steps and achievement of suitable conditions to ensure its success in consultation with all concerned sides, clarifying that a bill on alternative sentences has been elaborated and is expecting multiple alternative sentences options which vary between fulfilling work for public use to electronic surveillance; and also by daily fines as well as other repairing and rehabilitation measures aimed at restrict some rights.
This seminar is organized in partnership with Naif Arab University of sciences and security with the sponsor of UNICEF. More than 100 Moroccan Arab and European experts have participated in this seminar aimed at strengthening participants’ capabilities, especially investigating judges, justice for young persons and public ministry, in terms of good practices on the adoption of alternative sentences to freedom-deprived sentences, and this for the sake of reducing the number of preventive detentions and improving performances of national penal code system .
The seminar envisages highlight the importance of alternative sentences to freedom-deprived sentences in light of compared penal code and related human sciences. It also aims at clarifying good practices in terms of execution of freedom-deprived sentences in Arab states legislation, and at explaining the efforts and the implementation of Arab judiciary regarding freedom-deprived sentences and assess the impacts those alternative sentences have on overcrowding in prison and recidivism.
