CRIMINAL OFFENCES BILL, 2020

Summary

This Bill is the first attempt at undertaking a comprehensive review of the Criminal Code of The Gambia since its enactment in 1933. The Bill seeks to align our criminal justice legislation with current trends by removing all provisions inimical to freedom of speech such as criminal defamation and sedition. In addition, the Bill also seeks to close a long- standing legal lacunae by expanding the criminal jurisdiction of Gambian courts to offences committed by persons outside the country and who thereafter enter The Gambia, instead of extraditing them for trial in a foreign state. All the sentences under the old law were also reviewed in this Bill to bring them in line with current realities.

Bill Progress Timeline