Presenting this bill, which was approved by 72 deputies and rejected by 29, the Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi affirmed that “the development and adoption of this text constitutes an important achievement in the process of reform of the penal system, which His Majesty King Mohammed VI has always stressed the need to promote in His speeches and messages, as part of a modern penal policy aimed at developing the criminal legal arsenal, strengthening alternative mechanisms and multiplying the opportunities for the release, rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners.
“The optimal implementation of alternative sentences and the supervision of the skills of the various stakeholders are important foundations for the success of this important legislative project,” noted Mr. Ouahbi, explaining that the bill relating to alternative sentences reserves a major emphasis on the role of the various authorities involved in the implementation of these sentences.
It was notably a question of strengthening the role of the public prosecutor’s office in the implementation of alternative sentences and monitoring their implementation, of conferring broad competence on the judge of the injunction to pronounce alternative sentences according to his discretionary power, of entrust the judicial implementation of alternative sentences to the sentence enforcement judge, and grant competence to the General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration with regard to monitoring the implementation of alternative sentences .
The minister stressed that his department will ensure that the regulatory text relating to the electronic bracelet is developed and that it has the necessary means for optimal implementation within the legal deadline set for it, in addition to a certain number of measures to be implemented. taken by stakeholders.
In this regard, the minister specified that the stakeholders will ensure “to encourage the use of alternative sentences and to raise awareness in society of the importance and nobility of this approach and of coexistence with the people who are sentenced to it”, as well as to “provide the material and logistical resources necessary to ensure the implementation of these sentences”.
“The current state of penal policy illustrates the firm conviction that short-term custodial sentences do not represent the most appropriate solution or option for the reform and reintegration of convicted persons into society,” noted Mr. Ouahbi who presented the motivations for the development of this legal text, considering that custodial sentences constitute “a costly means of punishment, especially in light of prison overcrowding”.
2024-10-03 04:43:23