On Thursday 14th May 2020, the Minister of Justice/Attorney General, Busingye Johnston chaired virtual meeting of Justice Sector Leadership and Development Partners to validate the country's Criminal Justice Policy.

The terms of reference for the consultancy, which did by the Institute of Legal Practice and Development, included:

• Make a contextual and socio-cultural study on the current status of crimes in #Rwanda, main criminogenic factors, and the citizens’ views on possible ways of handling them to inform the Criminal Justice Policy development;
• Make a review of the existing laws, practices and procedures applied at all levels of the criminal justice system;
• Identify areas for improvement in the criminal justice system which require attention;
• Make a review of sentencing practices and laws;
• Review correctional rules and practices with more emphasis on the correctional, rehabilitation and resocialization spirit of prisons;
• Provide a composite set of recommendations which can be considered and implemented by Government to develop a more efficient, effective and appropriate criminal justice system;
• Provide policy makers with needed information to assess the performance of the present and future Rwandan Criminal Justice System on a more scientific basis.

The consultancy suggests that the Country's Criminal Justice system should be harmonious, coordinated and consistent. Also that mind-sets and practices will need to shift to match.

The Consultancy suggests 11 policy principles to work out for in the Policy:

• Protection of the Public;
• Human Rights and Equality before the Law;
• Justice, Proportionality and Fairness (Equity);
• The Protection and Rights of Victims;

Home grown Solutions & Community Involvement;

• Crime Reduction;
• Imprisonment to be the last option among the many;
• Diversion from the criminal justice system;
• Rehabilitation as the principle aim of the Criminal Justice system;
• Smart Justice;
• Professionalism & Accountability.

Policy actions suggested include:

• The creation of a probation and parole service;
• Judges to use and consider new alternatives to imprisonment;
• Policy-based measures to keep prison population under control.

Those are suggested alternatives to prosecution:

Suggested alternatives to imprisonment: