Defence Attorneys Applaud New Sentencing Guidelines for Judicial Transparency

The Association of Defence Attorneys is welcoming the recently introduced sentencing guidelines and says it will greatly benefit the judicial system. This year, the Senior Courts of Belize established the guidelines to provide persons with an indication of possible prison time and aid in determining jail time for convicts. The court says it is a step toward ensuring fairness, consistency, and transparency in how sentences are handed down and reforming the judicial system. Since coming into effect, the Association of Defence Attorneys has welcomed the decision and says they believe it will aid in alleviating a backlog of cases at the court. This morning, Orson Elrington, the association’s secretary, spoke on the move and what differentiates it from already established judicial mechanisms. 

Orson Elrington, Secretary, Association of Defense Attorneys: “Of course wherever you are able to have certainty, wherever you are able to be able to definitively guide your clients as to what would happen in proceedings that is always helpful and while before there was always been general parameters in which there are rules in so far as how you go about sentencing there is always areas for improvement. And so with the guidelines I think it gives a more detailed guide as to how practitioners and members of the judiciary should treat the issue of sentencing which of course is a critical component to the delivery of justice. Of course there are other mechanisms in law which is for example there is what is called a sentence indication hearing, that is something which has existed for some time. That specifically deals with where a person who might appear before the court and says you know what I believe that I am guilty of this offense or I do not want to gamble the uncertainty that comes with a trial and I believe that the evidence that they may have against me is stacked against me and so it might be in my favor to plea guilty to this matter and the court has the opportunity through what is called a sentence indication hearing to give an indication to that person, to the accused as to what would be the maximum sentence that the person would get if it is that they would plead guilty at that stage of the proceeding. The sentencing guideline is a little bit different because the sentencing guideline is what happens to a person when you have gone through the entire trial and based on certain parameters, certain things the offense, the offender, the aggravating factors, the mitigating factors, what would be the sentencing regime, what would be the parameters of a person who is convicted under certain conditions.”

The move is also part of the Senior Courts of Belize’s 3-year Strategic Plan aimed at transforming the judicial system.