Capital offences to be divided into three

Dec 05, 2011

CAPITAL offences will now be divided into three categories in order to issue sentences that fit the individual crimes, according to the newly developed sentencing guidelines.

 By Anne Mugisa

 
CAPITAL offences will now be divided into three categories in order to issue sentences that fit the individual crimes, according to the newly developed sentencing guidelines. 
 
The death sentence, for example, will be issued in the rarest of cases where the sentencing options cannot achieve the objective of punishment, according to Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine who headed the Task Force that developed the guidelines.
 
The 25-member task force which worked on the new guidelines for a year recommended that depending on the culpability of the offender, the sentence shall fall in three categories. The task force comprised judicial officers, members of the justice law and order sector and representatives of the civil society bodies.
 
In the first category, Bamwine said there will be cases whose starting point of punishment is 45 years imprisonment but the sentencing range could be life imprisonment to a death sentence. In this category, there will also be offences whose starting point is 35 years and the sentencing range is 30 years to life imprisonment. Other cases here will have the starting point of sentencing starting at 25 years imprisonment with a sentencing range of 18 years to 30 years imprisonment.
 
He cited the second category to include cases whose starting point will be 15 years but have a sentencing range of 12 to 18 years imprisonment. In category three, he said, the starting point is nine years and the range is six to 12 years imprisonment.
 
The new guidelines handed over to the Chief Justice, Benjamin Odoki, on Wednesday at the Sheraton Hotel, will ensure that the sentencing process reflects issues that have caused public criticism of the Judiciary. 
 

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