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by pltm
(PLTM) - Plans are underway to introduce standard guidelines to be applied when Magistrates are giving sentences for offences such as theft, drugs and sexual offences. This will be done with the introduction of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Sentencing Guidelines.
Members of the Judiciary have given a positive response to the first draft of the guidelines and over the next several months, consultations will be held in the Virgin Islands.
Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, the Honourable Dame Janice Perreira, DBE, made the announcement, telling the Judiciary and legal practitioners that it was out of the need for transparency that the process of creating the draft was started.
“Over time it became increasingly apparent, that the sentencing process in criminal trials across our OECS was being approached in a different way, with which the public appeared to be disparaged. Sentencing is one of the areas of great public interest and one which attracts much comments, some of which are often uninformed,” she stated.
As such, the Chief Justice said that “has long been recognised that for this court to serve the people of the Eastern Caribbean Region in an efficient and transparent manner, it must continuously find ways to improve its processes and procedures, and embrace systems and methods that are transparent and easily understood by the people they serve.”
The issue of sentencing, she emphasised, is of utmost importance, as it “invariably engages the liberty of the subject.”
“It therefore calls for deliberate and mature consideration in order to ensure that public confidence in the justice system is maintained. The passing of a sentence must not just be done right, but must also be understood as having been done right,” the Chief Justice stressed.
The first draft of the guidelines for matters related to drugs, firearms, theft, robbery and sexual offences has been introduced and given approval by members of the Judiciary and Bar Association.
Guidelines for other offences are being formulated. These, the Chief Justice said, are all to be set out in a “sentencing practice direction to be issued by the courts.” Its key function will be to assist judicial officers in providing structured and well-reasoned sentence remarks.
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