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Reducing Delay in the Administration of Justice: The Case of Uganda

NCJ Number
150031
Journal
Criminal Law Forum Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: (1994) Pages: 57-90
Author(s)
B J Odoki
Date Published
1994
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Uganda has recently introduced several measures to reduce delays between arrest and trial, because some prisoners have spent up to 5 years in prison awaiting trial only to have the court find the evidence against them insufficient to have justified their detention in the first place.
Abstract
The measures have included the establishment of resistance committee courts, the curtailing of committal proceedings, the holding of preliminary proceedings, the placing of restrictions on the pretrial remand period, and the expediting of hearing appeals in the Supreme Court. Although these measures have had some success in reducing delays in the administration of justice, efforts to speed up the process may prove counterproductive in certain areas and could result in other abuses and further erosion of the accused's constitutional guarantees of a fair trial. A need exists to maintain a delicate balance between speed and fairness to the accused to achieve a truly just legal system. Footnotes

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