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- Title
Minimum sentences and their effect on judicial discretion.
- Authors
Ntanda Nsereko, Daniel D.
- Abstract
This article focuses on the sentencing discretion and the effect of mandatory sentences on that discretion in Botswana. As far as sentencing is concerned, the general rule is for the legislature to prescribe the maximum limits for particular offenses and leave the courts with discretion to impose sentences within those limits that appear to them the most appropriate in the circumstances of a particular case. This discretion enables judges and magistrates to consider the peculiar circumstances of each accused person and to adjust the sentence accordingly. An argument usually put forward to justify minimum sentences is the need to minimize as much as possible the disparity in the sentences passed by different courts for the same offense and to bring about consistency and uniformity. The other argument that is advanced to curtail courts' sentencing discretion is the need to expedite the trial process and to ease the workload of the often-overworked criminal courts. The law in Botswana recognizes rape as a very serious offense. It is for that reason that it prescribes life imprisonment as the maximum punishment for it.
- Subjects
BOTSWANA; CRIMINAL sentencing; CRIMINAL procedure; CORRECTIONAL law; RAPE laws
- Publication
Crime, Law & Social Change, 1999, Vol 31, Issue 4, p363
- ISSN
0925-4994
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1023/A:1008357525216