Alternative Sentences: Morocco Should Act Accordingly

HIBAPRESS-RABAT

Morocco ranks first among the countries in the Arab world and its regional environment in terms of detention. Moroccan prisons suffer from chronic overcrowding that has been worsening for years and the detention rate in Morocco is constantly increasing. Currently, it is over 280 detainees per 100,000 inhabitants, while it was 200 detainees per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011.

This demonstrates that Morocco had to act accordingly to find a more plausible solution as a preliminary way out of this imbroglio knowing that alternative penalties could be the closest to a real achievement.

Except that this initiative may come up against another handicap: Can we really bet on the impact of these alternative sentences, when the few alternatives to incarceration already contained in the penal arsenal, both before the trial, at the time of sentencing or after conviction, could not be implemented and have remained almost completely hidden?

These include legal provisions relating to conditional release, the conciliation procedure, etc.

The reform of the Penal Code and criminal procedure which decriminalizes simple offenses, as well as a whole range of penalties linked to individual freedoms, can be adopted in the form of alternative penalties in particular.