Victim-offender mediation: it’s practicality within the criminal justice system of Ghana.

Ghana’s Criminal justice system is bedeviled with several shortcomings notable among them are its failure to cater for effects of crimes committed on the community and victims of crimes, long custodial sentences, overcrowdings in prisons, Human Rights abuses in the prisons and wastefulness of convicts’ productive lives in incarceration. Despites several measures put in place to forestall persistence of these shortcomings including the introduction of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms in resolving criminal cases, these shortcomings seemed to persist. Victim-Offender Mediation (VOM) which is one of the ADR processes recognized by the laws of Ghana is known to be a useful tool for solving most of the issues bedeviling the Criminal Justice System giving its numerous advantages. It was therefore surprising to see lapses in the Justice System when implementation of VOM in Ghana had long received legislative backing. This study was therefore carried out through interdisciplinary approach to research using mixed method to ascertain the practicality of VOM within in the Criminal Justice System of Ghana. In achieving this goal, the research sought to ascertain: whether or not the shortcomings in the Criminal Justice System still persisted; whether stakeholders of the Criminal Justice System are aware of the existence of ADR in the Criminal Justice System; whether stakeholders of the Criminal Justice System are aware of the existence of VOM in the Criminal Justice System; and whether or not stakeholders are satisfied with the state of the Criminal Justice system. A total of seven hundred and seventy-seven (771) questionnaires administered to randomly selected respondents from Aboabo, Oforikrom and Nhyiaeso communities in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region and purposively chosen informants known to be active stakeholders of the Criminal Justice System were analyzed. Secondary data from Kumasi Central Prisons, Ghana Statistical Service Department in Kumasi and Ghana Judicial Service Annual reports were also relied on in the study. It was revealed that as at 30th September 2018, Kumasi Central Prison was overcrowded by 148.13% and ninety-five (1,295) inmates were been held for committing offences in the category of misdemeanor; a category of offences which could have been settled by VOM. Responses from respondents in the study suggest that the shortcomings associated with the Criminal Justice System still persist. It was also found that some of the stakeholders of the Criminal Justices System were aware of the existence of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the Criminal Justice System of Ghana and have witnessed and/or participated in settlement of criminal cases out of court but none of them ever witnessed a VOM process. There were no records from the Judicial Service Annual Reports on criminal cases resolved by VOM. These findings are indicative of the fact that Victim-Offender Mediation has never been and is not being deployed in the Criminal Justice System of Ghana. It was therefore recommended that: Judicial service should liaise with institutions with expertise in Victim-Offender Mediation (VOM) to provide training in the area of VOM to enhance capacities of all stakeholders in implementing VOM models in the Criminal Justice System of Ghana; Whilst awaiting capacity building of the named stakeholders, Government should liaise with the known institutions with expertise in VOM to provide VOM services to decongest prisons; Government should put up new prisons and also facilitate the expansion of congested prisons; Government should implement the imposition of successful non custodial sentences like community service – used in Zimbabwe and Sweden – as punishment for misdemeanor; Government should make available all logistics for effective implementation of VOM models to be rolled out in the Criminal Justice System of the Republic of Ghana; Given the successes chalked by resolving serious offences like Homicides in other jurisdictions, Parliament should amend the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459), the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798), the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) and Juvenile Justice Act, 2003 (Act 653) to remove the fetters on the categories of offences which could be referred for settlement by Victim-Offender Mediation to include offences in the category of felony.

Source: KNUST