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The Attorney-General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, will soon lay before Parliament two bills that will provide alternative sentencing other than imprisonment for accused persons and convicts.
The two bills are the Plea Bargaining Bill and the Alternative Sentencing Bill.
Plea bargaining is where an accused person makes some concessions, either by wholly or partly admitting his or her guilt or assisting in the investigation and prosecution of others, in exchange for the dropping of charges against the accused or receiving reduced sentences.
Alternative sentencing allows a court to sentence a convict to do community service and other options other than imprisonment.
When passed into law, the two bills are expected to reduce the backlog of criminal cases in courts, as well as help decongest the country’s overcrowded prisons.
Mr Dame revealed that the Cabinet had given the green light for the Plea Bargaining Bill to be laid before Parliament, while the Alternative Sentencing Bill “is going through the process of stakeholder consultations and will soon be laid before Parliament on conclusion of same”.
He said the Plea Bargaining Bill would be an amendment to the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30), with the Alternative Sentencing Bill being a fully-fledged Act of Parliament.
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Source: GhArticles.com
