Reform of Africa's Criminal Justice Systems By: Willie Scholtz and Johann Marx

A well-functioning criminal justice system (CJS) is the bedrock of a safe and secure society. It protects our communities from exploitation and our citizens against false accusations. The CJS comprises government agencies mandated through legislation to work together to deter crimes against individuals, societies, and states. In a collaborated effort, they serve to punish offenders who cause physical or psychological harm against persons, are involved in damage or theft of property, and those who perform crimes against the state. Criminal justice systems involve multiple parts, each with a distinct role. The adversarial nature of most criminal justice systems requires functional independence between the judiciary and the agencies that present criminal cases to courts on behalf of the people.

Criminal justice systems are inherently complex because of the independent functioning of agencies such as police investigation, prosecution, judiciaries, and prison authorities. They involve several independent functions: crime reporting, detection, prosecution, adjudication, sentencing, incarceration, rehabilitation, and reintroducing prisoners into society. While there is a requirement for independence, each component depends on one or more of the other components, without which it cannot function.

Social Deprivation

A large percentage of crimes in Africa can be directly attributed to social deprivation caused by poor housing and parenting, poverty, low levels of education, and unemployment. Socially deprived individuals are easily given over to more detestable behavior, such as substance abuse and gangsterism, where there is no respect for human life and freedom and no regard for the rule of law. African countries have also become havens for crimes such as fraud, corruption, extortion, kidnapping, human trafficking, and modern slavery. Unlike the modus of operandi in the age of colonial slavery, greedy people from within African countries who operate in concert with international syndicates have become the main actors.

Criminal Justice Realities

CJS agencies worldwide are poorly coordinated and function in silos. Petty crime cases take as long to finalize as complex cases because of a lack of case classification and appropriate diversion programs. Very few, if any, countries can claim that they have successfully integrated their criminal justice process and information flows. Blame will frequently be shifted to different areas of the system, with budget limitations often cited as the primary obstacle. However, most criminal justice systems are fraught with inefficiencies that lead to wastage and duplication, leading to a continuous cycle of increasing inefficiencies.

Criminal justice systems almost everywhere in Africa suffer from a lack of end-to-end governance and the absence of politically accountable individuals who can influence strategic government expenditure and oversee the alignment and smooth functioning of the system as an integrated whole. Some African countries have taken promising steps toward integrating their criminal justice systems and have sound process and information integration plans. This has, however, been hampered by a lack of continuity of decision-makers and functional heads across CJS agencies. Changes at the ministerial level frequently trigger shifts in leadership across subordinate appointments, which in turn result in strategic and operational pauses for long periods and disruption of previous integrated planning and systems implementation.

Appropriate Tools

Budgets are mostly allocated to the different CJS components in an unscientific and uncoordinated way, creating unbalanced systems that result in blockages from start to finish. The process is characterized by multiple iterations between investigators and prosecutors and many fruitless court appearances that result in postponements before court adjudication. The result is a very high rate of cases that are closed by the police as “undetected” and an alarmingly low conviction rate. This translates into a criminal justice system that does not serve as a deterrent to crime. A cursory survey among crime detectives in Africa will almost always point to lacking basic but essential tools, such as vehicles to transport them to crime scenes, limiting available access to witnesses, prosecutors, and attending court hearings. They often must share mobile phones, which serve a dual purpose as recording and photographic devices. Forensic investigators face similar issues.

Prison Overcrowding

Most African prisons are overcrowded. The number of convicted prisoners almost always exceeds prison capacity. Prisons also have to accommodate high numbers of offenders who are awaiting trial. They should be kept separately from sentenced prisoners, but this is not always the case. The result is that young first-time offenders are often locked up in the same ultra-crowded spaces as individuals with extensive criminal records.

Recommendations for Criminal Justice Reform

The success of criminal justice systems depends on their ability to function seamlessly, with balanced and optimized resource utilization across the CJS entities and performance measured on an end-to-end basis. Successful CJS reform interventions have political and executive backing at the highest levels, ensuring they maintain a sustained involvement in the ongoing performance of the CJS. The critical factors are listed below:

• Focused and integrated governance and oversight structures backed by senior political sponsors and high-level officials.
• A single vision, mission, and overall CJS objectives at federal, provincial/state levels.
• Coordinated strategies, plans, and budgets, including cross-departmental resource models.
• A legislative reform program to replace inhibiting and outdated legislation, to enact legislation, and to publish diversion programs and alternative dispute resolution regulations, thereby allowing CJS role players to focus on serious crimes.
• Implementation of a permanent CJS structure to:
• Specialist career paths for investigators, prosecutors, and judiciary members who deal with complex commercial crime cases and other emerging crimes, including cybercrimes.
• Integrated and accessible CJS information technology system with shared criminal case information, criminal history, and biometric information of sentenced offenders.

Outcomes

The recommended actions will have strategic and operational benefits for society and criminal justice actors, with tangible and measurable outcomes that include:

• Successful investigations with fewer iterations between prosecution and investigation.
• Reduced number of court postponements, offender remands, and a decreased “awaiting trial” population.
• Shorter criminal case lapse time and increased cases with a final verdict.
• Significant elimination of duplication and wastage of public funds.
• Improved public confidence.

Conclusion

Effective criminal justice can only be served when all the role players are aligned through a joint mandate, common overall objectives, and coordinated and managed operating processes and procedures. This is contrasted by disjointed criminal justice systems that work in silos. This truth has evaded the attention of politicians, government agency heads, and CJS strategists for many decades. Insufficient attention to joint capacity planning, headcount balancing, skills requirements, skills matching, legislative alignment, and reform initiatives, results in delayed justice or no justice. A well-thought-through strategic approach to problem identification and solving, combined with the active involvement of the highest level of decision-makers, will result in actions that will automatically allow for short-term quick fixes, medium-term solutions, and longer-term interventions that ultimately must all be incorporated into a strategic Criminal Justice Reform Program.

Contact Details

StudeBaker Group

Johann Marx

+1 917-601-3863

johann@studebaker.group