Halved Penalty Would Not Solve The Problem
Backlog of criminal cases may be a sign of inefficiency or lack of commitment yet it is not a crime, but, to encourage the plea of guilty with a promise of half the statutory penalty is indeed a bizarre encouragement to commit crimes.
By K.Siladass
The learned Chief Justice’s proposal that if an accused person were to plead guilty the statutory punishment would be halved must be viewed with caution. Just because we want to see speedy disposal of cases and clear the backlog it is unthinkable that it is best to curtail the discretion of the court in imposing appropriate punishment commensurate with the offence that had been committed.
Plea bargaining would be good but an encouragement to plead guilty with a statutory assurance that the penalty will be halved could lead to other problems.
Syndicates which profit from criminal activities have been luring young men and women to join them. They are promised of protection from law as well as security in the event they are imprisoned. The proposed law if brought into effect would bolster crime syndicates to recruit more young men and women, which could lead to unimaginable social problems.
There could arise situations where the police investigation would not be up to the mark but the accused who may be a victim of circumstances coaxed into pleading guilty with the promise of the sentence being halved. This means the police would not be thorough in their investigations. The danger is too real.
Take the case of an overzealous police officer who arresting a person on suspicion and induces him to plead guilty because the sentence would be halved. This may sound unthinkable but the possibility cannot be ignored.
The learned Chief Justice’s proposal aimed at arrested backlog of criminal cases could lead to giving effect to slipshod police investigation and a licence to overzealous arresting offices to lag in their investigation. I believe this should be avoided.
What the learned Chief Justice should do is seek curative panacea to the backlog of criminal cases, not to devise a procedure pregnant with far reaching consequences.
Backlog of criminal cases may be a sign of inefficiency or lack of commitment yet it is not a crime, but, to encourage the plea of guilty with a promise of half the statutory penalty is indeed a bizarre encouragement to commit crimes. This should be avoided at all costs.
Perhaps the learned Chief Justice would recall the words of wisdom of the late Chief Justice Hashim Yeop Sani in the case of Public Prosecutor v. H. Chamras Tasaso [1975] 1 MLJ 95 at p. 45 which were as follows:
“At the outset let me say this. I would rather live with arrears and backlog of cases, which is I think a lesser evil, than have cases disposed of with such a speed and in such hurried a fashion as would leave in the minds of the ordinary persons a lingering suspicion that something is not right. Justice must not only be done but must manifestly be seen to be done. This case which I have called for revision is a case in point.”
I hope that the learned Chief Justice and his judges would free themselves from the fear of backlog of criminal cases and give due respect to justice. There are many ways to overcome backlog of criminal cases but encouraging to plead guilty with a promise of half penalty is certainly not going to be helpful.
