Making Ghana's Criminal Procedure Law Conform to Its Grundnorm: Decisions of the Supreme Court

IF 0.3 Q3 LAW
Samuel Opoku-Agyakwa
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Abstract

In this article, I discuss 11 Supreme Court cases decided since 1993 in connection with Ghana’s criminal procedure law. Most of the cases tested the constitutionality of some provisions of the criminal procedure law and the outcomes reformed, and/or proposed institutional, policy and legal reforms. To facilitate presentation and analysis, I grouped the cases into the following constitutional/legal principles: liberty of the accused or suspect; right to be represented by counsel of one’s choice; compensation for wrongful arrest/detention/conviction; access to justice and to the court; the accused’s right to adequately prepare to mount a defence; determinants of the mode of criminal trials, and the right of the accused to know and the duty of criminal justice officials to explain. I conclude that the Court has largely upheld the Constitution and balanced individual and communal rights while protecting the accused and suspects. It has demonstrated its willingness to exercise its oversight functions but has been overly mindful of the impact of its decisions on the taxpayer. I also conclude that the criminal procedure law is outdated. Although the Court directed its orders for legislative reform at specific institutions, most of them have been ignored. Recommendations include reforming the criminal procedure law to conform to the Constitution and establishing a mechanism to oversee the implementation of the Court’s orders.
使加纳刑事诉讼法符合其基本准则:最高法院的判决
在本文中,我将讨论自1993年以来最高法院就加纳刑事诉讼法作出的11项裁决。大多数案件检验了刑事诉讼法某些条款的合宪性和改革的结果,和(或)提出了体制、政策和法律改革。为了便于陈述和分析,我将这些案件按以下宪制/法律原则分类:被告人或嫌疑人的自由;有权由自己选择的律师代表;错误逮捕/拘留/定罪的赔偿;诉诸司法和法院的机会;被告有充分准备进行辩护的权利;刑事审判方式的决定因素,以及被告人的知情权和刑事司法官员的解释义务。我的结论是,法院基本上维护了宪法,在保护被告和嫌疑人的同时平衡了个人和社区的权利。它表现出了行使其监督职能的意愿,但却过于在意其决策对纳税人的影响。我还得出结论,刑事诉讼法已经过时。虽然法院的立法改革命令是针对具体机构的,但大多数命令都被忽视了。建议包括改革刑事诉讼法以符合《宪法》,并建立监督法院命令执行情况的机制。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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CiteScore
0.50
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0.00%
发文量
30
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