Draft Act provides for protection of society from dangerous recidivists

23. August 08

Today, on 16 September, the Ministry of Justice sent to other ministries for approval a draft Act on post-sentence detention, which will help to protect society from dangerous recidivists and reduce repeated offences.

According to Heili Sepp, Director of the Penal Law and Procedure Division of the Ministry of Justice, the draft Act will provide for the opportunity to postpone the release of dangerous recidivists after they have served their sentences, if there is reason to believe that they would resume their old path after having been released.

“That measure is not a punitive sanction. In other words, post-sentence detention is not a punishment for an offence committed, but a means of precluding new serious offences and increasing the security of society,” Sepp explained. “In a way, this measure can be compared to coercive psychiatric treatment, which cannot be deemed to be a punishment either."

Sepp emphasises that this measure will only be applied in the cases of real danger that a given person would commit new serious offences after having served his or her sentence. “Examples of such persons include paedophiles, serial rapists, robbers and blackmailers.”

The draft Act prescribes the precise categories of offenders to whom post-sentence detention can be applied. In addition to the criminal offences listed in the draft Act, such a person must have been subjected to imprisonment of at least two years, he or she must have been punished for similar offences at least twice, and there must be reason to believe that the person will commit new crimes after having been released. In addition, such a person must be at least 18 years old.

Subject to certain conditions which are even stricter, the post-sentence measure of detention can be applied even in the case that a person had not been punished before or had been punished only once.

Sepp explained that decisions on post-sentence detention will be made by courts at the time of making the convicting judgment. “Thus, in addition to making a convicting judgment and prescribing the period of the sentence to be served, courts will also be entitled to decide on post-sentence detention,” Sepp said.

A decision on the post-sentence detention will not determine the term of detention, i.e. the person will be released when there is reason to believe that he or she will not commit any new crimes. “During the period of detention a judge will verify at least once a year whether the detention is still justified, and if the basis for detention has ceased to exist, the court will make a decision on the termination of the measure of detention. The person will then be released and subjected to probation supervision for 1-3 years,” Sepp said.

The Act will only be applied to persons who have committed their last criminal offences after the entry into force of the Act. The Ministry of Justice estimates that there are 6-10 such offenders a year. “If the Act were in force now, it could be applied to 6 persons who currently serve time in Estonian prisons and meet all the criteria specified in the draft Act,” Sepp added.

Also the Constitution of Estonia and the European Convention on Human Rights provide for the possibility of deprivation of liberty with the aim of preventing crime. In addition, the European Court of Human Rights has admitted that deprivation of liberty for the purpose of ensuring the security of society is compatible with the Convention.

The draft Act is available at http://eoigus.just.ee/?act=6&subact=1&OTSIDOC_W=231697.

The explanatory memorandum of the draft Act and the slides of press briefing are available at http://www.just.ee/38329.