Maintain fair-play in remanding minor offenders and hardened criminals — Minister of Justice, Fagbemi

The Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi has called for the implementation of noncustodial measures and sentencing guidelines under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 to reduce the number of awaiting trial inmates.

Fagbemi made the call at the two-day workshop on the Implementation of Non-custodial Measure and Sentencing Guidelines under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 on Monday, December 4 2023, in Abuja.

The AGF was represented by Leticia Ayoola-Daniels, Director of the Administration of Criminal Justice and Reforms Department/ Correctional Unit of the Federal Ministry of Justice. He also encouraged trial judges to stop remanding minor offenders with dangerous criminals, which he said led to them being introduced into a life of crime rather than being reformed.

He stated that the goal of non-custodial measures is to discover viable alternatives to incarceration for offenders. The workshop aims to share knowledge on the effective use of these instruments that will lead to a decrease in arbitrary punishments, uniformity in punishments; and utilization of alternatives to imprisonment to decrease the population of awaiting trial inmates.

Fagbemi said, “In discharging that function, the sentencing Judge must strive to achieve the right balance between imposing a merited sentence in the case at hand while maintaining a broad level of consistency with other cases so that sentencing at a systematic level is fair. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act was enacted and came into force on May 13, 2015, the Act placed a premium on non-custodial sentences. In line with ACJA 2015, the Federal Government has set out guidelines to stipulate the requirements and procedure for imposing Non-Custodial sentencing to prevent abuse and ensure reasonable uniformity and fairness in the imposition of sentences.”