Justice Minister Tudorel Toader said on Monday in Iasi that hopefully, following the application of the law on compensatory remedies, "there will be no increase in the crime rate," adding that the probation directorates have taken additional measures to surveil the released inmates.
"I do not know, we will see. Hopefully, there will be no increase in the crime rate. In the end, punishment and imprisonment at a penitentiary have a special preventive role in regard to those subjected to them and an overall preventative role in regard to all citizens whom the lawmakers warn about not messing with criminal law, or else they will have to withstand its rigors, that is, the punishments," said Toader answering a question from the press.
He said that prior to the entry into force of the new law, he invited the heads of the probation directorates to the Ministry of Justice to discuss the difficulties they encountered in their job and the measures to be taken to improve their activity. "Certainly, in the face of these releases, they prioritise the measures they have to take, which includes bringing under immediate surveillance those who come out or leave the penitentiary under the provisions of the compensatory remedy law," said Toader, who participated in Iasi in the 19th edition of the legal colloquia of the National Bank of Romania.
In Iasi on Monday, he reiterated that an impact assessment is conducted when a law is being drafted and not when being implemented, mentioning that the draft initially provided for three days' benefit for conditional release instead of six, as it is today. At the same time, Toader said those whose trials are currently pending at the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) and who have left the penitentiary by serving imprisonment under improper conditions are entitled to indemnities.
Toader was in Iasi on Monday to take part in the 19th edition of the legal colloquia of the National Bank of Romania, an event organised at the Law School of the local Alexandru Ioan Cuza University.