CJ Mutunga to launch sentencing guidelines for judges and magistrates

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga. He has said Judge Philip Tunai will be investigated for corruption charges. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga will on Monday launch the Sentencing Policy Guidelines for judges and magistrates at the Supreme Court in Nairobi.

A task force on Sentencing Policy and Guidelines, gazetted in 2014, was formed to review past sentencing patterns and policies and recommend how to reduce unwarranted disparity and promote proportionality in passing judgment.

The task force, chaired by High Court Judge Msagha Mbogholi, was expected to recommend interventions that would include educating and engaging the public and other stakeholders on the sentencing system and its effectiveness.

The task force secretariat was based at the Judiciary Training Institute (JTI).

While handing over the report to Dr Mutunga, Justice Joel Ngugi, the JTI director, had said: “The Judiciary is committed to learning and borrowing from other jurisdictions; strengthening their unique legal innovations while rescuing and mitigating their excesses, failures and mutations.”

Justice Ngugi added that the Judiciary’s approach is both comparative and interdisciplinary and hence committed to learning from other disciplines outside law.