- Name
- Unsentenced detainees as percentage of overall prison population
- Indicator purpose
- This indicator measures the total number of persons held in detention who have not yet been sentenced.
- Abstract
- The indicator signifies overall respect for the principle that persons awaiting trial shall not be detained in custody unnecessarily. This indicator measures the total number of persons held in detention who have not yet been sentenced, as a percentage of the total number of persons held in detention, on a specified date.
- Contact organization / person
- Judiciary of Belize, Belize Police Department
- Unit of measure
- Percentage (%)
- Other characteristics
- From a development perspective, extensive use of pre-sentence detention when not necessary for reasons such as the prevention of absconding, the protection of victims or witnesses, or the prevention of the commission of further offences. Measuring the relative extent to which pre-sentence detention is used can provide the evidence to assist countries in lowering such burdens and ensuring its proportionate use.
- Classification used
- ‘Sentenced’ refers to persons subject to criminal proceedings who have received a decision from a competent authority regarding their conviction or acquittal. For the purposes of the indicator, persons who have received a ‘non-final’ decision (such as where a conviction is subject to appeal) are considered to be ‘sentenced’.
- Disaggregation
- is by age, sex and length of pre-trial (unsentenced) detention.
- Key statistical concepts
- The total number of unsentenced persons held in detention divided by the total number of persons held in detention, on a specified date.
- Recommended uses
- This indicator is used by Judiciary/Police Department to help save criminal justice system resources and exert financial and unemployment burdens on the accused and his or her family.
- Other comments
- UNODC collects data on prisons through its annual data collection (UN-CTS). The data collection through the UN-CTS is facilitated by a network of over 130 national Focal Points appointed by responsible authorities.
All the metadata shown in this document was gathered from United Nation Statistics Division. The metadata was extracted from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/.
- Target 2020
- 3. Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all
