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Changes to Criminal Code under discussion

Reforms to include harsher sentences and electronic tagging

By James Scanlon
For The Prague Post
April 2nd, 2008 issue

The national system of criminal punishment is soon to undergo a major overhaul. An ambitious and far-reaching reform package of the Criminal Code was put before Parliament March 14.
In his address to introduce the proposed changes, Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil declared that the law must first and foremost “protect the basic rights and freedom of every individual — life, health, personal freedom and personal possessions.”
In what appears to be the biggest shake-up since the oft-amended law from the 1960s, one element of the reform package calls for the legal age of criminal responsibility to be reduced from 15 to 14.
Pospíšil also introduced plans for a new system of electronic tagging for prisoners, possibly in the form of ankle or wrist bracelets.
Deputy Justice Minister Martin Moulis is responsible for prison reform, and welcomes the new proposals — in particular tagging, which he said already reduces prison populations in neighboring countries. “Austria has a population of 8 million, but there are only 8,000 prisoners. We have [a population of] 10 million, but have almost 20,000 prisoners. We’re missing out on alternative punishments such as electronic tagging.”
Justice Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Kuncová pointed out another benefit of the practice. “Everyone in prison can request to be released after serving half their sentence. For the rest of the time, they just have to keep in touch with the authorities,” she said. “With tagging, they will be able to be monitored more closely.”
Pospíšil also seeks to establish what he describes as “domestic prisons.” These will mainly be for people who have committed crimes related to sex, drugs or alcohol, or who have mental disorders and require rehabilitative treatment. At present, psychiatric clinics are used to hold such offenders, but, according to Moulis, they “are not so well protected by guards [and their] internal rules are not so strict.”
The reform package therefore calls for a new detention system to start in January 2009 that would include more experts and guards to monitor such criminals. Furthermore, a commission will evaluate the progress of these prisoners once a year, or for younger offenders, once every six months.
Criminal Code changes also include heavier punishments for felonies, such as brutal murder, increasing the current sentence from 15 to 20 years. Moreover, punishments for criminals “who remain a serious threat to society” would increase from 25 to 30 years.
As far as the controversial use of telephone bugging in criminal investigations, Pospíšil recommends a tightening of the rules, so that bugging would only be allowed when “there is no other alternative available.” Anyone who has been bugged will have the right to challenge the decision in court to find out if the order was lawful. “Civil and constitutional rights will receive the maximum protection,” Pospíšil added.
In addition, the reform package seeks to make judges — who, in the Czech Republic are totally independent with regard to decision-making — more accountable for wrong decisions. The reforms call for a change in the Commission of the Disciplinary Senate (Upper House), where other lawyers and legal professionals would now sit. These officials would be recommended by both chambers of Parliament, as well as by other professional legal chambers and deans of law. The makeup of the Senate would thus consist of judges from the highest Administrative Court, the High Court and regional courts. “This should reduce judge solidarity,” Pospíšil said. “The offense [wrongdoing] of judges should never be decided by another judge.”
In an unprecedented move, the public was given the chance to submit ideas on the new code via a government Web site. Out of 330 suggestions received, 30 have been incorporated into the reform package, one of which, for example, would make it a crime to mistreat animals.
Now that the proposals have passed the first reading, the Criminal Code will be sent to other ministries for amendment before a second reading, which is expected shortly, according to an official who declined to estimate a time frame for the code’s passage or implementation.

James Scanlon can be reached at news@praguepost.com


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