ABSTRACT
It has been said that we can assess the quality of justice in a country by looking at the treatment reserved for offenders. Where offenders’ human rights are respected and where there is an emphasis on compassion and rehabilitation we take that to be indicators of a high level of social cohesion and inclusiveness in society. Consider the following quotation:
Africans believe that an offender is a member of the community and should be corrected in the community and not outside it. The community insists on the offender paying a fine coupled with a communion feast and sacrifices to propitiate the gods, depending on the gravity of the offence. Undeniably, in Africa south of the Sahara, public offences such as incest, patricide, matricide, or desecration of a holy shrine would demand a sacrifice to appease the gods in addition to a communion feast and other communal penalties.
