Barrister Roman Awan
The criminal justice system is the law enforcement system directly involved in apprehending, prosecuting, defending, sentencing, and punishing those suspected or convicted of criminal offences. The criminal justice system consists of four main components: the police, the prosecution, the courts, and the corrections.
The police are responsible for enforcing the law, investigating crimes, arresting suspects, collecting evidence, and providing testimony in court. The police also have to protect the rights of the accused and ensure that they are treated fairly and humanely.
The prosecution is responsible for representing the government in the courts and protecting the legal rights of the government. Accordingly, prosecution and police are part of the government and are responsible for conducting trials in the government’s interest.
The courts are responsible for adjudicating the cases brought by the police and the prosecution, ensuring that the due process of law is followed, and respecting the rights of the accused and the victims. The courts also have to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused and impose appropriate sentences or sanctions for those who are convicted.
The corrections are responsible for carrying out the sentences or sanctions imposed by the courts, such as imprisonment, probation, parole, community service, or fines. The corrections also have to provide rehabilitation and reintegration services for the offenders and ensure their safety and well-being.
Pakistan’s criminal justice system needs reform in terms of investigation, prosecution, trial and corrections. The police in Pakistan face many problems, such as a need for more resources, training, equipment, forensic facilities, accountability, and independence. The police often rely on outdated methods of investigation, such as torture, coercion, and fabrication of evidence. The police also face political interference, corruption, and human rights violations. These factors affect the quality and credibility of investigations and lead to miscarriages of justice. Accordingly, there is a need to reform the structures of the police alongside functions on the lines of federalism, constitution, specialization and functional performance. Employment of modern technology and methods can enhance the standards in the investigation because the investigation is the central part of the criminal justice system.
The prosecution in Pakistan is not independent of the executive branch of government and is often influenced by political pressures, personal interests, or external forces. The prosecution also lacks the capacity, competence, coordination, and cooperation with other criminal justice actors. The prosecution often fails to present strong cases against the accused or to protect the rights and interests of the victims. The prosecution also faces challenges such as delays, backlogs, lack of witness protection, and low conviction rates. Therefore, prosecution departments of the provinces need to be revamped administratively and on prosecution standards. A functional prosecution civil service should be in place with functional training and capacity. The prosecution laws need more independence and autonomy to tackle the methods, structures and modes of prosecution.
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The courts in Pakistan are overburdened with a huge backlog of pending cases, which results in long delays and denial of justice. The courts also face issues such as a lack of infrastructure, resources, technology, transparency, and accessibility. The courts also suffer from judicial corruption, nepotism, favouritism, and bias. The courts also have to deal with complex and outdated laws and procedures, hamper trial efficiency and effectiveness. Therefore, the bar and bench should work together to sort out the delays in hearing dates, which is the fundamental issue of delaying the trials. The legislatures should enhance the capacity of the courts and the trial procedures to develop the criminal justice system. There is a dire need to code and re-code the procedural laws affecting the scheme of trials in Pakistan.
The prisons in Pakistan are overcrowded, understaffed, underfunded, and poorly managed. The prisons also lack basic facilities such as health care, education, vocational training, recreation, and counselling. The prisons also violate the human rights and dignity of prisoners, such as by subjecting them to torture, abuse, violence, exploitation, discrimination, and neglect. The prisons also fail to provide rehabilitation and reintegration services for prisoners and to prevent recidivism. Accordingly, corrections should be reformed in order to correct the criminal behaviours of the convicted rather than making them strong enough to become hardline criminals.
The reform of the criminal justice system of Pakistan is essential to ensure that the system is fair, efficient, effective, accountable, and responsive to the needs and expectations of the people. The reform should strengthen the capacity, competence, and independence of the police, prosecution, courts, and corrections. Then, there is a need to modernize and digitize the criminal justice system, such as by introducing new technologies, forensic methods, evidence management, case management, and record keeping.
Aligning the criminal justice system with international standards and conventions on human rights, the rule of law, and good governance is critical. There is a need to enhance the coordination, cooperation, and communication among different criminal justice actors and stakeholders.
Then, improving the access, quality, and delivery of justice for all segments of society, especially for vulnerable groups such as women, children, minorities, and poor people, is essential.
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The then government of Pakistan has recently announced sweeping criminal justice reforms to address some of these challenges and issues. The reforms include over 700 amendments to various laws and procedures related to criminal justice. These include a nine-month deadline for the completion of criminal trials, a mandatory budget allocation for police stations to meet the expenses of investigation, a statute of an independent prosecution service, a forensic laboratory to provide scientific evidence, a plea bargain option for offenders to reduce litigation, and prison reforms to improve prison conditions and services.
These reforms are expected to revolutionize Pakistan’s criminal justice system and make justice accessible to the commoner.
However, the success of these reforms will depend on their effective implementation and monitoring by all concerned parties. However, the fundamental question is, who should reform the criminal justice system in Pakistan? It is the constitutional prerogative of the legislature to reform the criminal justice system, and the executive and judiciary should not challenge this constitutional prerogative to reform the criminal justice system in Pakistan.
