Through funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Ministry of Legal Affairs today commenced the training of Toshaos, Prison Officers and Probation Officers in Restorative Justice, hoping that it will lead to a reduction of the country’s prison population.
It is believed that the overuse of prison sentences, particularly for minor, non-violent offenses, has resulted in the overcrowding of local prisons, and as such, the Government with the backing of the IDB, is looking to foster a society where ‘Restorative Justice’ could be used as an alternative to prison sentences.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall today said those undergoing the two-day training programme will play a leading role in executing the country’s Restorative Justice Programme.
“Restorative Justice allows for many things. First of all, it has what is called a pre-emptive element. Pre-emptive in the sense that it allows you to look at a problem that may not have become full blown but you see symptoms of the problem, and it allows you to, by recognizing those symptoms, to interrogate the situation and arrest the problem before it becomes a bigger problem or before it reaches its full potential,” the Attorney General explained.
However, he noted under the laws of Guyana, Restorative Justice will only apply to certain offenses.
“It cannot apply to any capital offense or offenses involving violence or sexual offenses or offenses involving our children. Those are excluded because those are serious offenses,” the Attorney General said.
It was noted that Restorative Justice first entered Guyana’s mainstream Justice System in the mid-1970s and got integrated into the country’s formal Justice System in 2022 with the passage of the Restorative Justice Act.
Since then, the Attorney General said the Government has conducted a number of training sessions and public awareness forums in the various Regions to train community and religious leaders.
Minister Nandlall said the issue of Restorative Justice is not one that is being dealt with in isolation, noting that the government is investing to arrange training programmes in Law Enforcement and other areas.
One of the programmes will see over 30 Police Officers and five officials from the Ministry of Human Services traveling to India on a fully funded scholarship this week to be trained in forensic interviews.
“We have included in the GOAL scholarship programme dozens of disciplines of forensic type of investigative methods and techniques, and social service programme and counselling programmes that our police officers, and those in our probation department can take advantage of, and I am happy to report that dozens of policemen, and social workers have been enrolled in our GOAL scholarship programmes to take advantage of these new opportunities,” the Attorney General said.
Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai was among the officials present at the opening of the training programme this morning.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login