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Magistrates participate in Juvenile Justice Workshop
As more and more youths are placed before the courts, Magistrates from across Guyana yesterday participated in a workshop geared towards building the capacity of the participants to better implement diversion and alternative sentencing programmes to juveniles.
Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan (sitting second from right) among other attendees at the workshop
The workshop was hosted by the Juvenile Justice Department of the Ministry of Public Security and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Community, Family, and Youth Resilience (CYFR) programme.
It was facilitated by consultant Dr. Dianne Williams, who is a Criminologist and Certified Criminal Justice Specialist.
Vice-President and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, gave brief remarks before the programme commenced.
The Minister stated it is very important that this initiative take effect immediately. He said, “It is important that we understand that at this policy level the Minister of Public Security wants this thing to be fast-tracked so that our young people can see a more alternative way to incarceration.”
He added that he does not want Guyana to be known as a ‘jailhouse nation’ and as such ‘we should find better solutions other than incarceration for the offences of young offenders’.
With that said, Minister Ramjattan reiterated some of the options magistrates can implement as provided by the Juvenile Act.
“The Act provides for certain measures like an apology, community service, compensation to the victim… I hope that you can get as innovative as possible knowing that the entire purpose is not to jail or to mete out punishments that are too harsh.”
Moreover, he highlighted that his ministry intends to leave no stone unturned as it seeks to ensure that all stakeholders become au fait and develop capacity in the execution of their functions and duties.
According to information, 35 Civil Society Core Groups have already participated in this workshop, from which a group will be formed to take this knowledge to the 10 administrative regions of Guyana.
Furthermore, Prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Staff members of the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic, Child Protection Officers and Probation Officers were also beneficiaries of the initiative.
A series of workshops were held between November 14 and 22, 2019 to facilitate the outreach.
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