CRIMINAL JUSTICE, A MODEL TO ENHANCE SOCIAL ORDER IN NIGERIA

BY

Eyitayo Joseph OYEYIPO , Isaac Akintoyese OYEKOLA

Department of Sociology

Landmark University, Omu Aran, Nigeria

oyeyipo.eyitayo@lmu.edu.ng +2347068537619, oyekola.isaac@lmu.edu.ng +2348057615306

ABSTRACT

One key function of criminal justice is to promote social order through consistent and independent review

of cases with fair, thorough and firm prosecution at court. It also delivers prosecution service that brings

offenders to justice, thereby reducing both crime and the fear of crime. Failure of criminal justice in

Nigeria however results in overcrowding in prisons as evident in the high number of suspects awaiting

trials, of which many eventually spend more years than required if sentenced. This delay and possible

denial of justice falls below the United Nations minimum rule of treating offenders. Using funnel shape

where accused moves through stages before final judgement, this work examines criminal justice as a

system (including its agents: police, prosecutors, judiciary and prisons) and how it can enhance social

order. The work concludes that protection of the rights of accused and offenders can be guaranteed when

cases are systematically reviewed and when necessary legal and administrative provisions are ensured for

justice.

Key words: Criminal justice, social order, Criminal justice system, awaiting trial.

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INTRODUCTION

Justice efficacy is not only a service but it is the pivot through which the rule of law is achieved.

Fair and prompt dispensation of justice is the foundation of effective judicial system, and trial is

a fundamental human right (Sanda, 2001). Criminal justice can be defined either as a system or

as process (Moore, 1997). Defined as a system, it refers to the set of agencies and processes

established by the state to manage crime and impose penalties on violators of criminal law

(Newman, 1978). Criminal justice process which is incorporated under the criminal justice

system involves the procedure for arrest, charging, trial of a suspect and confinement of an

offender. It also include the remanding of an accused upon court sentence. Policies on the

criminal justice system are built on five components and these are: the law enforcement

component, the court system, the prosecution, corrections system and the community. (Clare &

Krammer, 1977). Criminal justice delivers prosecution service that should bring offenders to

justice, help reduce both crime and the fear of crime and thereby promotes public confidence in

the rule of law, through consistent fair and independent review of cases, and through fair,

thorough, and firm presentation and representation at court (The Crown Prosecution Service

2010). This has been the starting point of social disorder. When the process is wrong, the system

has little to do.

The criminal justice is an ambiguous word because it is made up of different components. Such

components are seen as a system which work together to give a man his just due as at when due.

There are four major components of the criminal justice system in Nigeria namely:

 The Police.

 The Prosecution.

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  The trial Court(criminal court divisions)

 The correctional institutions which includes the prisons, borstal homes, remand homes

etc.

The Nigerian Police

The Nigerian Police is a paramilitary federal institution whose operation is under the control of

the President of the country. The Nigerian Police is, by law, vested with the responsibility of

detecting, investigating and solving crime so as to ensure peace and stability in the nation.

Within the criminal justice system, the police is referred to as the gatekeeper (Alemika, 2014).

When Police saddled to ensure peace and stability through thorough investigation to determine

crime and solve crime fail to carry out the responsibility justly, then it might engender social

disorder.

The prosecution

The prosecution is majorly handled by the directorate of public prosecution to determine if a case

should be initiated or not. This directorate have the mandate of prompt review of cases and

timely release of the advice to court over a case. Where the prosecution office delay in the

release of accused advice, indefinite detention is inevitable. Such would provoke social disorder

as the right of the accused would be trampled on.

The court

The courts in the country, in order of hierarchy, are: the magistrate/district courts, the high

court/sharia/customary court of appeal, court of appeal and the Supreme Court (Olamide, 2016).

These courts have the functions of interpreting the law, adjudication and judicial review; and at a

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more general level, it resolves disputes and enforces the law. Where people lack confidence in

the court, social disorder will be on increase.

The Prisons

Prisons are meant to serve rehabilitation and reformatory purposes where convicted individuals

can be made to realize their erroneous ways and the gravity of the acts that led to their

conviction, have a change of heart, and, perhaps, acquire certain skills that will enable their re-

absorption into the society on completion of their jail sentence (Ndukwe & Nwuzor, 2014) and

(Omagbemi & Odunewu, 2008). Prisons in Nigeria this days are far from correction centre due

to so many factors such as overcrowding and so on.

The four components of Criminal justice system could be explained in a funnel shape analysis of

treatment of an accused before pronounced offender, wide at the top but narrow at the base or

bottom. This implies that many people are arrested but after thorough investigation, some are

released either on bail or based on lack of no proof to connect the accused to the offence. This

reduces the number of people moving to the next level of the system which is the prosecutor.

Such goes down until an accused is pronounced an offender such as when compared with the

number of accused at the initial stage, the number reduces at every level of the system which

form a funnel shape.

CONCEPTUALISING SOCIAL ORDER

Social order is contrasted to social chaos or disorder and refers to a stable state of society in

which the existing social structure is accepted and maintained by its members . Social order is a

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core theoretical issue in the social sciences. The problem arises because human being are both

individuals and social. If we were each living alone on a private planet, we could do whatever we

wanted and would never have to worry about anyone else. Or, if each of us were attached to one

group mind, we would have no individual impulses and urges. But we are both (Hechter &

Horne, 2003)

Every individual inhabits a separate physical body and thus each has his or her own experiences,

information, feelings and ambitions. Yet we are not completely independent. Stories of people

living in isolation, neglected children, prisoners in solitary confinement tells us that we need

social contact to be physically and emotionally healthy, and simply to stay alive (Hechter &

Horne, 2003).

Knowing the above fact, humans interact with each other to stay alive. When such interaction is

overshadowed by social inequality, the less privilege or the minority or disadvantaged will not

experience the ideal goal of social order which is to stay alive. Instead, the injustice done on

them brings them more closely to their graves which later distort social order in a society.

Criminal justice is aimed at giving reward of punishment to every deviants in the society.

Punishment according to (Diana K. 2007), is any action designed to deprive a person of things of

value (including liberty) because of some offense the person is thought to have committed.

Historically, punishment has had four major goals which are retribution, general deterrence,

incapacitation and rehabilitation. The question now is if Nigeria correction centres are actually

serving the purpose of punishment? Most inmates complete their jail term as a worst person

compared to how they were before entering into the prisons (Amnesty International Report,

2009).

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The implication of this is that, an inmate who is supposed to undergo the four functions of

punishment most especially the rehabilitation aspect is released into the society as a worse

person. He becomes more dangerous than who he was before going to the prisons. This leads us

to another social problem of recidivism (re-offending). The prison which is supposed to reform

the inmates ends up contributing to the worse situation of the inmates. When a family is not at

peace, the neighborhood cannot be at peace; when the neighborhood is not at peace, the society

cannot be at peace; when the society is not at peace then the country cannot be at peace. The end

result is chaos, violent clashes and confrontations of different categories which endangers any

form of peace enjoyed in the country.

Situation whereby injustice is done to a man, such man becomes more livid about his

environment. A society where there is no assurance of getting your due as at when due will

eventually lead to social disorder. Such society would be hit with little or no confidence from the

people of such society.

System Theory

General systems theory was originally proposed by biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1928.

Since Descartes, scientific method had progressed under two related assumptions. A system

could be broken down into its individual components so that each component could be analyzed

as an independent entity, and the components could be added in a linear fashion to describe the

totality of the system. Von Bertalanffy proposed that both assumptions were wrong. On the

contrary, a system is characterized by the interactions of its components and the nonlinearity of

those interactions. In 1951, von Bertalanffy extended systems theory to include biological

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systems and three years later, it was popularized by Lotfi Zadeh, an electrical engineer at

Columbia University. (McNeill and Freiberger, 1993).

A system from this frame of reference is composed of regularly interacting or interrelating

groups of activities. It was recognized that organizations are complex social systems; reducing

the parts from the whole reduces the overall effectiveness of organizations. This is different from

conventional models that center on individuals, structures, departments and units separate in part

from the whole instead of recognizing the interdependence between groups of individuals,

structures and processes that enable an organization to function. The systems view is a world-

view that is based on the discipline of system inquiry. Central to systems inquiry is the concept

of system. In the most general sense, system means a configuration of parts connected and joined

together by a web of relationships. Béla H. Bánáthy defines system as a family of relationships

among the members acting as a whole. Von Bertalanffy defined system as "elements in standing

relationship.

The systems view was based on several fundamental ideas. First, all phenomena can be viewed

as a web of relationships among elements, or a system. Second, all systems, whether electrical,

biological, or social, have common patterns, behaviors, and properties that can be understood

and used to develop greater insight into the behavior of complex phenomena and to move closer

toward a unity of science. System philosophy, methodology and application are complementary

to this science. By 1956, the Society for General Systems Research was established, renamed the

International Society for Systems Science in 1988. The Cold War affected the research project

for systems theory in ways that sorely disappointed many of the seminal theorists. Some began to

recognize theories defined in association with systems theory had deviated from the initial

General Systems Theory (GST) view. Systems can be either controlled (cybernetic) or

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uncontrolled. In controlled systems information is sensed, and changes are effected in response

to the information. Kuhn (1974) refers to this as the detector, selector, and effector functions of

the system. The detector is concerned with the communication of information between systems.

The selector is defined by the rules that the system uses to make decisions, and the effector is the

means by which transactions are made between systems. Communication and transaction are the

only intersystem interactions. Communication is the exchange of information, while transaction

involves the exchange of matter-energy. All organizational and social interactions involve

communication and/or transaction.

Parson (1951) asserts that structures are significant for the maintenance of order within the social

system. The criminal justice structure comprises of different agents working together as a whole.

These agents are the police, the prosecutor, the court, and the prison. The police make arrest with

the information received on a crime. Every crime has its rules on how it should be treated. The

police make the necessary contact with the ministry of justice to report a given incidence. The

ministry of justice through the Director of Public Prosecution sends its Advice to the court on

each person arrested. The court makes necessary arrangement on the information received from

the Ministry of Justice in administering justice through arraignment. These set of agents under

the criminal justice system act on information received from each of them in administration of

justice. The information flows from the police, to the Ministry of Justice, to the court, and if

necessary to the prison. Criminal justice prosecution is not a work of one particular person but as

a web of relationships among elements, or a system. Reducing the parts from the whole reduces

the overall effectiveness of organizations. Communication flows among the criminal justice

system help in effective criminal prosecution.

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In Nigeria justice system, awaiting trial prosecution is delayed due to lack of effective

communication between the Ministry of Justice (Directorate of Public Prosecution) and the

court. The Advice from the Ministry of justice takes years before it gets to the court and this

makes inmates to be remanded for a longer period than expected. According to Ladan 2009,

most inmates awaiting trial spend more years in the prison than the number of years to be spent if

sentenced. This action affects the inmates psychologically that even after the release, they get so

used to the prison life and eventually commit another crime which directs the inmates back to the

prison even after the release.

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Table 1: Prisons Admission by term of imprisonment 2014

IMPRISONMENT 2014 PERCENTAGE

Remanding/Awaiting Trial 84,259 60.68
Short Term 31,650 22.80
Long Term 22816 16.43
Condemned 48 0.04
Lifers
Detainees 60 0.043
Others 9 0.007
Total 138842 100

Table 2: Prison admission by term of imprisonment 2015

IMPRISONMENT 2015 PERCENTAGE
Remanding/Awaiting Trial 78,791 63.1
Short Term 28,141 22.6
Long Term 16,762 13.4
Condemned 642 0.5
Lifers 449 0.4
Detainees
Others
Total 124,785 100

Tables 1 and 2 above shows the frequency of prison admission by term of imprisonment for the

year 2014 and 2015 extracted from the Nigerian Prisons Annual Report. For the years, it is clear

that over 60% of prison inmates are still awaiting trial (Nigerian Prisons Annual Report, 2014

and 2015). This is an indication of failure in the aspect of the criminal justice system most

especially on the path of the innocent suspects awaiting trial.

CONCLUSSION

From the foregoing, it is clear that a credible CJS is the first step towards a sane society

(Olonisakin  Ogunleye, A. J., & Adebayo, S. O., 2017). It is part of the primary duty of the

criminal justice system to respect and protect the rights of its citizens. This duty behoves of the

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criminal justice system to adopt policies and laws that gives practical effect to the rights of

individuals. In an academic sense, remand procedures ensures judicial participation in the denial

of right of liberty, however the practical contents of this procedure shows that right of liberty of

accused persons are left to the nearly unfettered discretions of police officers and prosecutors.

The result of this practice has been long detention, overcrowding in the prisons and in some

cases detention of innocent persons on trumped up charges. What is at risk here is not just the

question of right to liberty but also the dignity of the human person, right to fair hearing, and

other fundamental rights. This gives a lasting impression in the mind of Nigerians on what

criminal justice systems is in Nigeria and impose little or no confidence in the mind of the

citizens. The Nigerian criminal justice has utterly failed the Nigerians and this is in no way

helpful in criminal prosecution but rather a vessel of destruction to the criminal justice system

and the society as a whole which should be properly looked into. According to Sanda(2007), the

problem of awaiting trial incarceration has to do with the courts. There is a lot of congestion at

the courts; which is a carryover from the courts to the prisons arising from series of

adjournments in both listing, and hearing of the charges. As a result of this congestion, many of

the facilities in the Nigerian prisons are overstretched by the increase of the inmates from the so

called awaiting trial inmates.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In moving forward, the following should put into consideration:

 To make all necessary legal and administrative provisions to ensure all suspects are

charged with a recognizable criminal offence or released;

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 Systematically review the files of all inmates awaiting trial in Nigerian prisons and

detention centre’s, and ensure that their right to a fair trial within reasonable time is

guaranteed.

 Ensure that every suspect is well arraigned and prosecuted if found guilty. This will

increase the confidence of the society in the criminal justice system of Nigeria.

 Where need be, increase in the number of judges and courts should be proportional with

the number of inmates in the country. Where you have over 50,000 inmates compared to

less than 500 law courts is an aberration.

 A review of the remand procedure to ensure that the Magistrate is presented with

evidence to support reasonable suspicion by the police before a remand order can be

made.

 Automatic periodic review of remand orders by the Magistrate to evaluate the progress of

the case within stipulated constitutional timelines (Section 35 (4) of the 1999

Constitution)

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