In a conference at the Tbilisi Marriott on the 24th of June attention was drawn to the current Georgian sentencing policy. In support of the Criminal Justice Reform Strategy for Georgia NORLAG had chosen to have a criminological approach to the topic. Both the EU ambassador and the Norwegian ambassador gave opening speeches at the conference, which had approximately 60 participants, and among them the Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance, Ms. Khatuna Kalmakhelidze.

Two Norwegian experts, the internationally recognized professor in criminology Nils Christie and appeal court judge Iver Huitfeldt, with experience from justice reforms in Moldova, gave speeches. Mr. Christie had a general approach to the more fundamental aspects of crime and punishment, while Mr. Huitfeldt through an overview over prison population rates showed that Georgia still has a growing prison population which is getting closer to the Russian prison population instead of being more at the level with other European countries. The third main speaker was the head of the newly established Centre of Criminology at Tbilisi State University, Mr. Moris Shalikashvili, who spoke of criminological aspects of prison sentences. His newly published book on criminology was made available to the participants.

Professor Nils Christie speaking at the conference. To the right the facilitator Tata Pataraia, NORLAG.