TheCable

Lateef Fagbemi, attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, has asked judges to stop remanding minor offenders with hardened criminals.

Fagbemi spoke in Abuja on Monday at a two-day workshop on the implementation of non-custodial measure and sentencing guidelines under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.

Fagbemi was represented by Leticia Ayoola-Daniels, director of administration of criminal justice and reforms department/correctional unit at the federal ministry of justice.

The AGF encouraged the judges to adopt non-custodial measures as a viable alternative to incarceration of offenders.

He added that the federal government has stipulated the requirements and procedures for imposing non-custodial sentencing to prevent abuse.

“The purpose of non-custodial measures is to find effective alternatives to imprisonment for offenders and this is in accordance with the current global shift in punishing convicts with alternatives to prison terms,” the AGF was quoted as saying by NAN.

“The aim of the trend is to give the judges and magistrates much latitude and discretion to award befitting and purposeful punishment to convicts aside the punishment suggested by the statute creating the offence.

“We have seen countless cases where defendants are arrested for minor offences and locked up in prisons adding to the population of awaiting trial inmates.

“These offenders remanded with hardened criminals end up being initiated into a life of crime instead of being reformed.”