In overcrowded prisons running at 163% capacity, women sleep on mattresses while dealing with untreated trauma from domestic violence, sexual abuse, and grief.
Prioritise non-custodial sentencing
Speakers at a roundtable discussion on sentencing in the country’s Criminal Justice System have called on judges to prioritise the option of non-custodial sentencing that exist under the 1992 Constitution rather than giving custodial sentences to convicts especially, petty offenders. They have also called on government to expedite action to...
African Court’s Landmark Opinion Could Reduce Criminalization of Poverty, Prison Overcrowding
All Africa Open Society Foundations (New York)'s Press Release 4 December 2020 Today, a continental court in Africa delivered a landmark opinion on colonial era vagrancy laws, which criminalize activities such as loitering, public indecency, and begging. The judgement has the potential to help reshape criminal justice policy and practice...