BELIZE: ALL PRISONERS SERVING LIFE SENTENCE TO BE RE-SENTENCED

At least 44 prisoners currently serving life sentences in Belize will be re-sentenced following an important judgment by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). After considering reforms to the Belize Criminal Code, the CCJ has found that judges have discretion to impose a fixed term sentence for individuals convicted of murder, instead of life imprisonment or the death penalty.
The two appellants in this case, Gregory August and Alwin Gabb, had both initially been sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. This sentence was struck down by the Belize Court of Appeal in November 2016 as “inhuman” and a violation of a right to a fair trial. As a result, the Belize government ushered in legislative reforms to the life sentencing system, modelled on that which operates in the United Kingdom. The new legislation holds that, when sentencing a person to life imprisonment, the judge must impose a minimum term of imprisonment. Once that minimum term has been served, the prisoner becomes eligible to have their case reviewed by a Parole Board for possible early release.
In considering the new legislation, however, the CCJ found that life imprisonment was just one possible punishment for individuals convicted of murder and that a lesser fixed-term sentence could be imposed instead. This means that each prisoner currently serving a sentence of life imprisonment in Belize must now be provided with another sentencing hearing to determine the proportionate punishment in their case.