The Supreme Court of Mauritius and the Objectives of Punishment in Sentencing Offenders to Penal Servitude for Life and to Other Lengthy Prisons Terms in Drugs- Related Cases: A Look at Recent Case Law

Since the abolition of the death penalty in 1995, the Supreme Court has sentenced several offenders to lengthy prison terms ranging from 10 to penal servitude for life – both in cases where penal servitude for life is a discretionary sentence and where it is a mandatory sentence. The aim of this article is to look at all cases between 1995 (when the death penalty was abolished) and February 2009 (when this research was concluded) in which the Supreme Court has sentenced offenders to lengthy prison terms including penal servitude for life to establish which objective(s) of punishment the court emphasised in those cases. Most of the cases reviewed were drug-related although a few cases on murder and manslaughter were also studied.Keywords: Supreme Court, penal, servitude, life, punishment, objective