26.─(1) a court shall not pass on an offender a community sentence, that is to say, a sentence which consists of or includes one or more community orders, unless it is of the opinion that the offence is serious enough to warrant such a sentence. The move to create a mechanism for adult probation follows the passage of the alternative sentencing act, 2024. The act prioritizes alternative sentencing mechanisms One of these is a criminal procedure plea discussion and plea agreement act and a new alternative sentencing act Draft bills were circulated to stakeholders back in october, 2023 and a final set of comments last week to strengthen the measures. The cabinet announced last week it had plans for further reform of the legal system in three critical areas
Plea agreements, alternative sentencing, and keeping of criminal records. This case marks the first instance of a defendant employing this legislation to propose alternative sentences and charges Guerra, with the assistance of his representative, erin quiros, initiated a novel plea deal under this act.
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