Abstract: | In 1963 a Minimum Sentences Act was passed which restricted discretion previously available to judges and magistrates when sentencing convicted persons. By this Act minimum sentences of imprisonment and corporal punishment were made mandatory for certain itemized property offences. However, it has been recognised as having failed to curb the upward trend of serious crime. So the response of the makers of the Tanzanian Minimum Sentences Act of 1972 has been to increase the minimum sentences of imprisonment, to widen the scope of the minimum sentence law, and to increase the maximum permitted sentences for a wide range of offences. The Act retains corporal punishment. Sections of the article: Background - The main provisions of the Act and comparisons with the 1963 statute - Implications of the Act for sentencing principles and statutory construction- Comment. Notes; table. |