Jail terms too long?
2003-06-09 13:22
Donwald Pressly
Cape Town - South Africa's chief justice Arthur
Chaskalson has questioned imposing lifelong sentences on those found guilty
of
serious crimes, noting that a high proportion of those in the country's
prisons
were below the age of 25.
Speaking to the National Assembly justice portfolio committee on Monday the chief justice said that as at September 2002 there were 46 000 prisoners
serving long terms in the age group 25 years or younger.
"What is alarming to me is that 36% of the prison population falls into
that category," he told MPs serving on the multi-party committee headed by
African National Congress MP Johnny de Lange.
Referring to huge overcrowding of prisons he said that the emphasis
towards
imprisoning people for long terms since democracy in 1994 had a major impact
on
the prison population and it had implications for the capacity of South Africa's prisons.
It meant that new prisons had to be built and
appropriately
staffed, which required more funding.
Implications for rehabilitation
He said long terms of imprisonment also had implications for rehabilitation - there was little point in it if the prisoner was to spend most of his life in prison.
"It is difficult to give rehabilitation if people are going to stay
in
jail for 30 years."
Challenged by De Lange who asked why there was a burgeoning population
of those falling into this category, Chaskalson said that this figure was not
largely made up of those who would previously have been executed.
"We (South Africa) never executed more than 100 to 200 a year; even then
it
was one of the highest rates of execution in the world." Capital punishment
was outlawed by the government in 1996.
The chief justice also expressed concern at court cases running late.
An audit of the needs of courts was required including its human and capital requirements, the chief justice proposed.
- I-Net Bridge (Business)