A critical appraisal of pretrial disclosure and the administration of criminal justice in Uganda

Abstract

This research appraises pre-trial disclosure and the administration of criminal justice in Uganda. It is intended to interrogate the extent to which Uganda’s legal framework on pretrial disclosure facilitates the administration of criminal justice in Uganda. The researcher inquired into the extent to which the law and principles governing pretrial disclosure facilitate the administration of criminal justice, compared Uganda’s laws, experiences and practices of pretrial disclosure with selected jurisdictions and proposed ways on how pretrial disclosure and its application can be improved to enhance the administration of criminal justice in Uganda. The qualitative research design was adopted and the research population was primarily prosecutors, judicial officers, advocates in private practice, accused persons and complainants. The purposive or judgmental sampling technique was used to select prosecutors, judicial officers, complainants and advocates in private practice while the simple random sampling technique was employed in selecting accused persons who participated in the research. The key findings of the research reveal that pre-trial disclosure is crucial and it has contributed positively to the administration of justice by facilitating the early identification of relevant evidence, enabling fair trials, and reducing delays in court proceedings. It further finds that even though there has been implementation of pre-trial disclosure in Uganda, the absence of a legal framework to specifically provide for its implementation has led to noncompliance as there are no consequences. It therefore concludes that there should be legal framework which clearly spells out how pre-trial disclosure should be implemented, when and the consequences of non-compliance.