General News of Friday, 9 October 2015

Source: atinkafmonline

'Presidential pardon, 'Justice For All' breeding more criminals'

DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohunu DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohunu

The Ghana Police Service has expressed concern about how criminals are left off the hook through Presidential pardons and the Justice For All programme.

The police assert that statistics available to them indicates that many beneficiaries of Presidential pardons and the 'Justice For All Programme' go back to their first love-crime.

According to the police, many of the beneficiaries have been involved in several robberies and other violent crimes.

Speaking to Atinka News, the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohuno said most hardened criminals tend to benefit from the programme and return to the society to commit the same crimes that sent them to jail.

He said the police administration is worried about the situation and called on stakeholders to meet and deliberate on how best to fine-tune the programme to avoid the needless release of criminals.

According to the Regional Commander, most of the robbers and criminals arrested are not first-time offenders but ex-convicts who have benefited from these programmes.

“We are not against the 'Justice for All programme' but I think something should be done to save the situation before it’s too late,” he said.