| Justice system gives
the rich room to escape justice – Okiro
By ADESINA AIYEKOTI
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
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•Mike
Okiro
Photo: SunNews Publishing
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The Inspector General of Police, Mr Mike Okiro, has confessed
that criminal justice in the country is weak and seen to be
oppressive on the poor and the helpless.
According to Okiro, who is also a lawyer, it is convenient
for the rich and the elite, to use money, contacts and influence
to abuse the law to their advantage.
Okiro made the remark in a paper presented by him recently
on the Role of the Police and Prisons in the Dispensation
of Criminal Justice in Africa, during the second NCMG African
ADR summit held in Lagos.
He said the ultimate goal of the system was to secure peace
and order in the society, adding that the success of the system
depended largely on a proper understanding of the objectives
of the system by all parties/agencies involved in the dispensation
of criminal justice and coordination of their activities to
secure the state’s objective.
Criminal justice
Criminal justice is the system of legislation, practices and
organizations, used by government or the state, which are
all directed at maintaining social control, control crime
and sanctioning those who violate laws. The dispensation of
criminal justice in Nigeria is always guided by the Criminal
Code Act applicable to Southern Nigeria and the Penal Code
being used in the Northern Nigeria and other procedural law
books, like the Criminal Procedure Act, the Criminal Procedural
Code and the Evidence Act.
Criminal law
The purpose of law is to provide an objective set of rules
for governing conduct and maintaining order in a society.
The purpose of criminal law is to provide the specific definition
of what constitutes a crime and to prescribe punishments for
committing such a crime. The goal of criminal justice is,
of course, primarily concerned with the enforcement of criminal
law.
The first process of criminal justice administration starts
with the police arresting the offender and investigating the
alleged commission of the offence. Thereafter, the matter
goes for trial before the judiciary, where the facts ascertained
by the police are presented by the prosecuting agency and
the accused person gets a full opportunity to present and
argue his side of the case.
If the trial results in the accused person being found guilty,
he is made to suffer a penalty either by being held in custody
for a specified period or by being made to pay an amount of
money as fine to the state and/or compensation to the victim
of crime. Even in cases where a convicted person is to be
sentenced to imprisonment, there are legal provisions for
exempting him from such physical custody in certain circumstances
and keeping him under special observation by correctional
agencies with the objective of facilitating his reform and
smooth return to society. This example abound in cases involving
juveniles and drug addicts.
The police
The first contact an offender has with the criminal justice
system is with the police who effect the arrest. Under international
and local legislation, the police are empowered to use force
which must be proportional to the resistance, and other forms
of legal coercions and legal means to effect public and social
order. The criminal justice system provides the arena in which
police prosecution takes place. It is usually considered as
a hierarchy of systems concerning the police, the judiciary
and the Prisons’ Service.
Processes by the police in criminal justice administration
This is the restraining of one’s liberty in other to
answer to a charge preferred against the person. Section 24
(1) of the Police Act empowers the police to arrest any person
without warrant in circumstances spelt out in (a)-(c). Sections
24-26 of Criminal Procedure Code deals generally on arrest.
It is pertinent to note that the process of arrest is the
means through which the police set the ball rolling in criminal
justice administration. An arrest is effected by actually
touching or confining.
Searches
When a person is arrested by the police for having committed
an offence, a search is conducted before detention. The purpose
of this search is to remove from him anything that he may
be in possession of, that he can use to injure himself, others
or destroy property or aid himself in any possible attempt
to escape while in custody, and /or to recover any incriminating
object in connection with the case under investigation. When
a complaint is made at a police station about commission of
an offence, it may be necessary on the basis of the complaint,
for the person and premises of the offender to be searched.
The police may search the person or thing in order to obtain
evidence that may be used in the trial of such a person.
Enhanced public cooperation with the police
Apart from investigating the facts of a crime after it has
been committed, police have, according to normal public expectation,
a responsibility for preventing the occurrence of crime. Investigation
may be deemed as an expert professional responsibility that
has to be squarely borne by the police, and their success
in this regard depends mostly on their training, equipment
and competence, aided by public cooperation wherever possible.
But in regard to prevention of crime, police cannot do much
by themselves, since quite many among the factors that cause
crime are beyond their control. In fact, several of these
factors transcend the Criminal Justice System itself and,
therefore, need public cooperation to excel in the prevention
and investigation of crime. Police cannot be expected to handle
such situations without necessary society input but they should
have co-operation, assistance, sympathy and understanding
of the polity in general.
Speedy trials encourages deterrence
Another aspect of prevention is deterrence. There is no doubt
that certainty of detection and certainty of swift punishment
in proved cases deter crime, but while the former is within
the control of police the latter transcends police duties
to that of the prosecuting agencies, the lawyers community
and the prisons. It is high time our judicial system started
checking the undue exploitation of technicalities and obsolete
procedures in our criminal justice system to facilitates speedy
trials. |
