Brasília, May 5, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Only 10% of convicted criminals are assigned alternative sentences in Brazil, but studies indicate that at least 20% (60 thousand prisoners) could serve their sentences without imprisonment. This declaration was made by the Minister of Justice, Márcio Thomaz Bastos, who guaranteed that the Brazilian government will work on several fronts to expand this number. One of these fronts is a joint effort with the Judiciary to increase the number of court sentences with alternative punishments. Bastos made this declaration yesterday (4) at the opening of the International Conference on Alternative Sentences, which runs through tomorrow (6) in Brasília.

The Minister of Justice said that the application of alternative sentences is the fruit of a more humanistic conception, which costs the State less and has a low rate of repeat crime. A prisoner costs about US$ 236.00 (R$ 700.00) per month, whereas alternative sentences cost around US$ 23.00 (R$ 70.00). "Prison is the last recourse in terms of depriving someone of something," he affirmed.

Alternative sentences are sentences that do not restrict a person's freedom and are applied to first offenders guilty of crimes that have less potential to do harm and were not pre-meditated, and only when the sentence is no greater than four years. They involve the performance of a service or the payment of a fine. The alternative sentence most common in the Brazilian judicial system is the performance of community service. The other forms are: a temporary loss of rights; weekend limitations; the loss of possessions and monetary values, and monetary contributions, as in the case of paying for basic food baskets.

In the United Kingdom, alternative sentences are used for 80% of the convictions in the country. The English experience was presented at the opening of the International Conference on the theme by Rob Allen, director of the Rethinking Crimes and Punishment Foundation and a member of the Juvenile Justice Board for England and Wales.

Translator: David Silberstein