Attorney Says Sentencing Guidelines Is Good for Justice System  

Today, attorney Bryan Neal threw his support behind the Chief Justice’s groundbreaking move to introduce Belize’s first-ever Sentencing Guidelines. This landmark achievement was officially published in the Gazette on Thursday, January second. According to a press release from the Government’s Press Office, these guidelines are a historic first for Belize, marking a major milestone in the ongoing transformation of the criminal justice system. Developed as part of the Senior Courts’ three-year strategic plan, the guidelines align with the recommendations from the CCJ Academy for Law’s Needham’s Point Declaration on Criminal Justice Reform and the Criminal Justice Board. Once implemented, they aim to bring consistency, transparency, and fairness to sentencing practices across the board. Attorney Bryan Neal is fully on board with this initiative, recognizing its potential to significantly improve the justice system.

 

Bryan Neal, Attorney-at-Law

“Over the years there have been many reforms in the civil area, but this Chief Justice and these new judges have worked together to come together to reform the criminal justice sector of the administration of justice, and I think it needs to be commended. In terms of what the guidelines do, I think it – from my reading so far – rationalizes the approach to sentencing so that it is uniform and fair from one defendant to another. So what the guidelines do, it gives judges and lawyers and other persons interested the ability to have a set of rules that are rational and are equal so that when a person is sentenced all matters are considered. What is considered is what the offender did, the offense, and also who the offender is emphasize now that the role of sentencing is not only to punish, but we want to rehabilitate people. We want to bring back people into society, to reintegrate them. So I think now, with these new reforms, this is yet another step in the right direction in bringing Belize closer to the Needham Points Declaration, which is a declaration that was made in Trinidad that rationalizes the law across the Caribbean, so that our – this is a move update our laws, like Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and other countries which already have sentencing guidelines, so it’s a very positive thing for us.”