CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND EVIDENCE ACT (e) the Prisons and Correctional Service; and (f) the Law Society of Zimbabwe; and (g) such other organisations and bodies as, in the Commission’s opinion, have expertise or an interest in crime, punishment and the rehabilitation or treatment of criminals; for the purpose of studying and discussing the objectives, policies, standards and criteria for sentencing offenders, and formulating draft sentencing guidelines. (4) The procedure to be followed at a judicial conference shall be as prescribed or, in relation to any matter that is not prescribed, as determined by the Judicial Service Commission. (5) Draft sentencing guidelines may relate to all matters relating to the sentencing of offenders and, in particular, to— (a) inquiries and investigations to be conducted by courts prior to sentencing offenders; (b) the factors to be considered by courts when sentencing offenders; (c) forms of punishment that may be imposed as alternatives to custodial sentences; (d) principles and criteria which will assist in promoting consistency in sentencing and the equitable administration of criminal justice in Zimbabwe; and they may be formulated so as to be general in nature or so as to apply to particular offences or classes of offences or to particular classes of offenders. (6) In formulating draft sentencing guidelines, a judicial conference shall pay regard to— (a) the need to promote consistency in sentencing; and (b) the impact of sentencing decisions on offenders and their families as well as on victims of offences; and (c) the need to promote public confidence in the criminal justice system; and (d) the cost of different sentences and their relative effectiveness in rehabilitating offenders and reducing crime. (7) Unless a judicial conference agrees upon some other form, draft sentencing guidelines shall be in the form of a table of presumptive penalties supplemented by additional guidelines addressing such of the factors referred to in subsection (5) as are relevant to each offence or class of offence included in the table. (8) As soon as practicable after a judicial conference has formulated draft sentencing guidelines, the Judicial Service Commission shall approve them, with or without amendments, for submission to the Minister in terms of subsection (9). (9) As soon as practicable after approving the draft sentencing guidelines, with or without amendments, the Judicial Service Commission shall, subject to subsection (10), submit them to the Minister for publication as regulations in terms of section 389, and upon such publication the courts shall pay due regard to the applicable sentencing guidelines when sentencing offenders and, while not being bound by the guidelines, must, when departing from them in any case, record the reasons for doing so. (10) The Minister must publish the draft sentencing guidelines substantially in the form in which he or she receives them from the Judicial Service Commission, unless he or she has any substantial objections to them, in which event the Minister must return them (together with written notification of his or her objections and of the reasons for them) to [the] Judicial Service Commission for consideration of his or her objections by the Judicial Service Commission or, if the Commission so determines, at the next judicial conference following the notification of his or her objections. (11) If after notification of the Minister’s objections to the draft sentencing guidelines the Judicial Service Commission or, as the case may be, the next judicial conference— (a) upholds the Minister’s objections, the Judicial Service Commission shall resubmit them with the appropriate amendments to the Minister for publication as regulations in terms of section 389; 123