Online exchange of experiences on “Alternative Forms of Punishment and Alternatives to Pre-trial Custody”
- Details
- Published: November 4, 2020
On 30 September 2020, IRZ organised expert discussions on alternative forms of punishment and alternatives to pre-trial custody, in partnership with the Senior Public Prosecution Office in Morocco. The online event, which was aimed at around 40 participants from the Moroccan Senior Public Prosecution Office, was financed as part of the institutional partnership by the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV).
The IRZ experts taking part in the exchange of experiences were Pascal Décarpes, International Consultant on Prison Management, and Andreas Stüve, Senior Public Prosecutor at the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor’s Office. Leading the event on behalf of the Moroccan Public Senior Prosecution Office were Mohamed Oukhlifa, Head of the Department for International Technical Cooperation, and Mourad Alami, Head of the Department for the Implementation of the Penal Policy.
The Senior Public Prosecution Office in Morocco, which has been operating as an independent institution since 2017, is facing some major challenges. These include, for example, excessive numbers of people remanded in custody. The high number of prisoners on remand is partly due to a lack of alternatives to imprisonment. Against this backdrop, the opening event with the Moroccan Public Prosecutor’s Office was devoted to the topic of alternative forms of punishment and alternatives to pre-trial custody.
The IRZ experts began by presenting the German criminal justice system, focussing on:
- general penal provisions
- efficiency in the penal system
- prison terms
- limiting pre-trial custody
The Moroccan experts then went on to report on their experiences relating to penal policy and alternatives to pre-trial custody. They went into more detail on the challenges involved in the prosecution and sentencing of offences, including the enforcement of pre-trial and prison sentences. Their German colleagues also contributed their own experiences on this complex of subjects. The Moroccan participants showed a great deal of interest in the German models for the relaxation of imprisonment conditions and suspended sentencing, support for offenders and alternatives to pre-trial custody. This was also clear from the lively discussions that took place after the exchange of experiences. To conclude, the online exchange of experiences was productive and constructive. The participants’ committed involvement underlined the current need for an exchange of experiences on this subject. The Moroccan partners expressed their wish for further opportunities to discuss these issues. IRZ therefore plans to continue the cooperation with the Moroccan Senior Public Prosecution Office in future.