It is expected that the National Crime Observatory will begin its work in the coming days, after the completion of the steps and procedures related to its creation. It will monitor the criminal phenomenon in Morocco, through the production of statistics, studies and preparation. This body will also present proposals to contain crime in the country.
Since 2009, King Mohammed VI has called for the creation of the National Crime Observatory. However, attempts to develop a clear vision on how to bring it into existence and how it is managed have not been successful. A recommendation was made to establish a national observatory of the criminal phenomenon and to pay attention to criminal statistics in the recommendations of the Charter for the Reform of Justice.
It is expected that the National Crime Observatory will see the light of day in a week, when its organization chart will be completed and placed with the General Secretariat of the Government and the Ministry in charge of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform.
The National Crime Observatory, according to the testimony of Judge Hicham Malati, Director of Criminal Affairs and Amnesty at the Ministry of Justice, will consist of four departments. These are the Criminal Statistics Authority, which will produce statistics on the phenomenon, in cooperation with the security and judicial authorities, and the General Directorate of Prison Administration and Reintegration, where the statistical data obtained will be collected. at the observatory.
The second department that the National Crime Observatory will include is the Department of Studies, Research and Management of Criminal Phenomena, which will compile statistics and reports. While the Department of Criminal Planning will be responsible for presenting proposals for solutions to stem crime. The fourth department is the Publishing and Documentation Department, which will publish the studies, reports and statistics produced on the phenomenon of crime in Morocco through a website dedicated to this purpose.
The Director of Criminal Affairs and Amnesty at the Ministry of Justice, in a statement to MoroccoLatestNews, said an article had been included in the Criminal Procedure Bill which authorizes the National Crime Observatory to collect crime statistics.
It will be attached to the Directorate of Criminal Affairs and Amnesty of the Ministry of Justice, after having resolved the discussion that arose on this aspect, given that the international standards relating to the establishment of observers of criminality stipulate that the latter must be neutral, that is to say not affiliated with the government.
In this context, Hicham Malati indicated that the attachment of this body to the Directorate of Criminal Affairs and Amnesty at the Ministry of Justice is no longer under discussion, after the independence of the judiciary from the executive power, noting that the option chosen by Morocco is applicable in other countries, as is the case in the United States.
The official added that there was another factor which favored the attachment of the said observatory to the Directorate of Criminal Affairs and Amnesty, which is that the latter has executives specialized in criminal cases.
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