On the life sentence[/B] and a number of issues raised by the current news with cases involving lewdness against minors, Greek Interior Minister Makis Voridis spoke.
In particular, in relation to conditional dismissal, according to Mr. Voridis, what the Ministry of Justice should be concerned about from now on are certain cases of either particularly heinous crimes or criminal personalities. "We have a serial killer, does it make sense for a serial killer to be released on parole? That is, a man who has committed two, three, four, four, five homicides at different stages of his life, are we going to get him out of prison?" said Voridis on the First Programme 91.6 and 105.8.
With regard to the offences of paedophilia, Mr. Voridis said that paedophiles "in the vast majority are people who, because they have this perverted passion, which is too intense, are not reformed." Therefore, the Minister expressed the opinion that "there are certain cases of crimes or criminals that because of either the personality or the heinousness of the act, we could consider that in these cases the entire sentence imposed by the court would be served. To do the whole of it, there should be no beneficial provisions or anything," he said. "There should be no legal possibility to judge the issue of conditional release," he added."
He noted, however, that the Ministry of Justice added conditions to conditional release, elements relating to the danger of the offender, whether he has been reformed, elements of his personality, the risk of committing new criminal acts. "So, therefore, the particular administrative body that judges this dismissal also sees it from this point of view," which is very important, according to him. In addition, he noted that the penalties provided specifically for offences relating to sexual freedom and dignity - but also in a number of offences - with the revisions that the current government has made to the Criminal Code in general, are the right ones.
In relation to life imprisonment, which in the country's penal code is a fictitious concept, Voridis was asked if this is something that should be changed and his opinion was that "in some cases life sentences should be life sentences". "If you have a terrorist who has killed 17 people and has never repented, why shouldn't he serve a life sentence, spend his whole life in prison?" the minister added.
Asked if his view on commuting life sentences to real life sentences in cases could be adopted at the government level, he replied "the demand of society for a decent sentence and as this debate opens up in the public discourse, I think it will also generate thoughts in the Ministry of Justice, in which direction it should move." In relation to child rapists, who are currently being punished with life sentences, Mr. Voridis clearly expressed the view that life sentences should be real life sentences.
In relation to the use of chemical castration, according to Mr. Voridis, this could be a mechanism of penal conciliation. As he said, this is applied in foreign countries as a security measure for society, in case the offender consents to this measure in order to get out of prison without having served the entire sentence.
"That is to say that in order to get you out of prison after you have served your sentence, for example, 20 years, you will acquire the right to conditional release after you have actually served 6 years, but in 6 years to acquire this right you will have accepted this medical act on yourself," he said. Asked if he would be receptive to the introduction of such an institution, Voridis replied that "it is something to be considered."
Source: Proto Thema
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
