How Dubai Upholds the Rule of Law

Criminal justice systems exist to guarantee public safety. All countries have well-

articulated criminal justice systems comprising of five distinctive pillars. These include the law

enforcement, courts, correction facilities, prosecution, and defense attorneys. Each pillar has a

clear mandate that empowers the personnel working in its institutions to exercise criminal justice

practices in a distinctive manner. For instance, the law enforcement pillar receives claims of

criminal behavior or actions, investigate them, and eventually decide whether to arrest the

alleged criminal or not. The law enforcement agents hand over the evidence to the prosecution

agents, who determine whether to file or drop charges against the suspects.

The defense attorneys receive their mandate from the offenders, who are interested in

being represented in the court as defendants. Subsequently, the courts in Dubai listen to the

evidence provided by the prosecution and the counterarguments raised by the defense attorneys.

The jury analyzes the facts of the case and makes judgment requiring the defendants to be

incarcerated if guilty or released if innocent. Defendants released by the jury are required to go

back to their normal lives and continue serving the country as responsible citizens. However, the

guilty defendants lose their right of freedom of movement because they must spend a specific

duration behind bars as ordered by the judge.

These are the offenders who end up in prison. They are welcomed by the corrections

pillar of Dubai’s criminal justice system. The corrections facilities and agents are only required

to serve punishment as instructed by the courts. Thus, Burns (37) asserts that the agents working

for the corrections segment play a supervisory role over the incarcerated convicts as well as their

peers released both on parole and probation. These five pillars work together because they are
designed to support each other. They pursue the same goal of upholding the rule of law not only

in Dubai, but also in all parts of the United Arab Emirates.

The criminal justice in Dubai manages to uphold the rule of law by prioritizing five

unique objectives. The first objective involves deterrence. The courts in Dubai make decisions to

punish individuals found guilty of perpetrating different types of crimes to deter the defendant

from repeating the offense again. Additionally, the punishment aims at deterring other

prospective criminals from acting in a criminal manner in the future. Individuals are likely to be

discouraged from perpetrating crimes if the punishment outweighs the benefits arising from the

underlying criminal undertaking. One must first consider the price that he or she will pay if

caught committing a crime.

The second objective is to incapacitate the criminal. The general public must always be

protected from all forms of harm. The law abiding citizens of Dubai have a right to enjoy peace

and live without fear of losing their property and lives. They also have a right to move, interact

with others, and conduct business in Dubai freely. Individuals who threaten these rights cannot

be allowed to continue in the same path. The law enforcement agents arrest these persons,

prosecutors file charges, defense attorneys try to bail them out, courts order for incarceration,

and the corrections department jails them.

They are incapacitated when the judges are convinced that there are guarantees that the

offenders will not repeat the same offense again. The rights of the general public are more

important than personal rights and freedoms. Thus, the ultimate goal of incapacitation is to

protect the masses from the criminal acts of the culprit. In Dubai, incapacitation is done through

life imprisonment. The criminal justice system in the United Arab Emirates does not practice

banishment because the government is committed to protecting all citizens. The criminal justice
system in Dubai cannot banish Emirati citizens because doing so would leave the victims without

a country to call home (Haine n.p). However, the criminal justice system may impose a death

sentence on a criminal in severe cases.

The entire criminal justice system in the Emirate of Dubai also acts on criminal behaviors

to deter retribution. The victims of criminal behavior are always left lamenting their losses,

which could be financial, material, or emotional in nature. The families of these victims may also

rue their losses if a criminal behavior results in the loss of a loved one. In both cases, these

families may opt to gain payback by targeting the suspects and their families if justice is not

served. The loss of a loved one may force the family of the victim to kill the offender. In extreme

cases, retribution may result in the killing of one or more members of the offender’s family.

Dubai does not give up on the Emirati citizens who commit minor offenses and

misdemeanors. The courts give lenient penalties to individuals who commit these two types of

crimes because the criminal justice system aims at rehabilitating them. The key objective is to

transform these petty offenders into productive members of the Dubai society by the time they

leave prison. Individuals given lenient penalties like probation, short-term imprisonment, and

chance for parole are earmarked for rehabilitation (Burns 59). They participate in different

training programs designed to help the offenders to develop skills that can help them earn a

living when they leave prison.

The last objective of Dubai’s criminal justice system involves restoration. Some minor

offences and misdemeanors do not warrant harsh punishments. Some crimes that result in

financial and material losses are addressed through restorative penalties. These are the

punishments requiring the offender to shoulder the full cost of the damages cause by his or her

actions. The key aim is to repair the damage and, subsequently, restore the position or status of
the victim to the level that it was at before the crime occurred. For example, an individual may

be ordered to repair the damage caused to a property as a result of a car accident associated with

his or her mistakes. Rehabilitation and restoration strategies are designed to streamline the

reintegration of the offenders into the society without compromising public safety.

The Dubai criminal justice system cannot uphold the rule of law without support from

other stakeholders. Hence, the government of Dubai provides material support to the criminal

justice department to cover the operational costs. The government also pays the salaries of the

personnel working in the various arms of criminal justice system. Meanwhile, the community

plays an integral role in upholding the rule of law in the Emirati. Citizens work collaboratively

with the police in different ways including crime detection and reporting (Najami n.p). The

members of the society are also required to act in self-defense in times of danger.

Nongovernmental organizations and activists monitor the work of criminal justice agents to

guarantee maximum compliance to human rights principles.

Works Cited

Burns, Ronald G. The Criminal Justice System. 1st. Prentice Hall, 2006.

Haine, Alice. "The punishment does fit the crime in the UAE." The National 29 October 2012.

<https://www.thenational.ae/uae/courts/the-punishment-does-fit-the-crime-in-the-uae-

1.368030>.

Najami, Siham Al. "Dubai Police call for help in fighting crime." Gulf News 15 August 2010.

<http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/crime/dubai-police-call-for-help-in-fighting-crime-

1.668258>.