Kenyans have been asked to embrace plea bargaining justice system with a view to reducing case backlog as well as save time and financial resources.
Malindi Resident Judge Stephen Githinji and Kilifi County Head of Prosecution Vivian Kambaga urged accused persons who know they committed the alleged crimes to own up and plead guilty in exchange for lighter sentences.
Speaking at the Malindi Law Courts during the Judiciary’s Plea-Bargaining Week, the officials also urged victims of criminal activities to cooperate in the process of plea bargaining for them to get assured justice as those who plead guilty are usually sentenced and their criminal records kept.
Justice Githinji said accused persons willing to own up to their mistakes were being given an opportunity to plead guilty as a way of bargaining for lighter sentences by agreeing with the prosecution and their lawyers instead of going through full hearing.
“People charged with murder cases and they know they committed the offences and have expressed willingness to plead guilty to those offences have been engaged in a process called plea bargain whereby the victims have been spoken to by probation, the prosecution and their advocates and a victim-impact assessment report prepared,” he said.
On her part, Ms. Kambaga said although the Plea Bargain Service Week was focusing on murder cases, plea bargains were applicable to all cases apart from offences such as defilement and crimes against humanity.
She said Kenyan prosecutors have no power to reduce sentences, but they can negotiate with the accused persons and victims and then recommend to the courts, which have ultimate powers to exercise discretion.
“The courts currently have embraced plea bargaining and, in most cases, the sentence suggested by the prosecution has in many occasions been embraced by the courts, and so we encourage many more people to plea bargain,” she said.
She said the system was beneficial both to the accused persons and the victims in that the accused persons were likely to get lighter sentences while the victims would be sure of getting justice since the accused persons would be convicted.
County Director of Probation Conrad Masinde said that most victims of criminal activities had agreed to plea bargaining after being enlightened on the benefits, adding that in many cases, probation officers reconciled the parties.
By Emmanuel Masha
