The Maldives Criminal Court's Approach in Engaging the Parties in First-degree Felony Murder: A Content Analysis

Abstract

The laws concerning first-degree felony murder in the Maldives allow mitigating the punishment if the victim pardons the offender. However, many offenders do not receive a pardon from their victims. Relevant literature suggests that a successful reconciliation would occur in an environment that fosters the expression of remorse and forgiveness. The contrasting outcome indicates a need to understand if the court procedures promote an empathetic outcome. The present analysis aims to address the gap by establishing the approach of the Criminal Court to engaging the parties in cases involving first-degree felony murder, identifying if the court encourages the expression of remorse and forgiveness and establishing how the current approach affects the outcome of the cases. By employing a content analysis method driven by the literature on restorative justice theory, the present study analysed seven different court cases concluded between 2020 and 2023 September that involved first-degree felony murder. The analysis showed that the approach of the Criminal Court to engaging the parties in a first-degree felony murder may include explaining the rights of a victim in the legal system of the Maldives, attempting to humanise the offender or the victim or simply seeking the opinion of the victim concerning the punishment. The case analysis also demonstrated that offenders were less remorseful and victims were less forgiving. The analysis showed that the current procedures are inadequate to foster remorse and forgiveness and recommended employing restorative justice processes to engage the parties.