discharge the child upon execution of a bond of good behaviour, or order the child to be placed under the care of a fit and proper person or order the child to pay fine, compensation or costs or make a service of community order or make a probation order or order the child to be admitted to an approved school or a Henry Gurney school. Section 426(1)A of the CPC provides for the application of the principles of restoration. For example, when the accused has been convicted for his crime, the law gives power to the court to order the accused to pay compensation to the victim of the crime in respect to the injury of the person, character or loss of his income or property. In her conclusion, Ms. Rozilah stated that generally the mindset of society is that criminals must be punished with imprisonment. Criminals must be locked away and be separated from the society as they bring danger and negative influence on the community. Therefore, being in prison is perceived as the most viable solution to protecting the society. If the court orders for an alternative to imprisonment, it might raise issues of inadequate sentencing which leads to appeals. Thus, awareness among public at large and the legal fraternity is deemed important to ensure efforts to introduce and to execute alternatives to imprisonment will be a success. 4.2 Mr. AG. Kalidas Krishnan Gnanaprakasam, President of Bar Council, Malaysia in the introduction of his presentation stated that prison is never a pleasant place where violence, overcrowding and other conditions pose a grave risk to prisoner’s health and safety. Besides, they are most likely to be exposed to and contract COVID-19 during the pandemic and this will lead to severe outbreaks in prisons and detention centres.74 Overcrowding results in poor sanitation and living conditions where physical distancing is simply impossible. Other than COVID-19, prisoners are exposed to infectious diseases such as AIDS and Tuberculosis while in prison. A. Tokyo Rules on Custody According to the 12th Malaysia Plan, about 17.2% prisons in Malaysia were operating beyond their capacity in 2020 with 61.7% of inmates there were imprisoned due to drug-related crimes. Mr. Kalidas stressed that there is a need for a rehabilitative justice in the Malaysian justice system. In 1990, the UN Standard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial Measures (Tokyo Rules) was tabled and adopted at the UN General Assembly. The Tokyo Rules emphasises and promotes the use of non-custodial measures that take into consideration the rights of offenders, the rights of victims 74 COVID-19 ‘Behind Bars Data Project’, UCLA and John Hopkins University. 45

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