Wrongful Convictions and the Quest for Remedies Under the Ethiopian Criminal Justice System

Senbeta, Tesfaye Boresa (2015) Wrongful Convictions and the Quest for Remedies Under the Ethiopian Criminal Justice System. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.

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Abstract

The right to life and liberty and security of individuals are protected under international and regional treaties and under the FDRE constitution as well. Most of international treaties guaranteeing for these rights are ratified by Ethiopia. These rights are not absolute as they can be limited and deprived to enforce criminal law in the form criminal responsibility. But the process of depriving for the right to life and liberty shall pass via due process of law. The course of criminal proceeding shall fulfill and realize the basic tenets of fair trial guarantee to minimize miscarriage of justice that would result and not to convict innocent involved in the process instead of the real culprits. Cognizant of the fact, human beings are not error proof and practical administration of criminal justice is influenced by different factors; wrongful conviction of innocents is inevitable. Furthermore, the proper realization of fair trial rights and safeguards cannot immune the system from making mistakes. But it reduces the risk of convicting innocent individuals. Hence wrongful conviction cannot be avoided. Wrongful conviction is the greatest injustice done to individuals for the crime they did not commit. It results in immeasurable breach of their civil, political and loss of their socio economic rights. It is potential to shake confidence of the public against the criminal justice system itself. Though the issue was internationally recognized and backed by legal framework; the problem of wrongful convictions is not recognized in the Ethiopian criminal justice system. This thesis has disclosed some of the wrongful conviction cases in the Ethiopian context. It has been revealed that there are cases of wrongful convictions in which innocent individuals were imprisoned for many years for the crime they did not commit. Despite the existence of the problem in the Ethiopian criminal justice system, there is no legal frame work which allows for review of a final conviction after discovery of new evidence. The right to claim for compensations as a result of damage caused to the individuals by state machinery is also not regulated. So it is the focus of this study to appraise factors contributing for the occurrence of wrongful convictions on one dimension and to scrutinize the legal lacunae with regard to post-conviction remedies for persons wrongly convicted in Ethiopia on another dimension.

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
Uncontrolled Keywords: Wrongful Convictions, Human Rights, Miscarriage of Justice, Review of Criminal Judgment, Post- conviction Remedies, Compensations
Subjects: K Law > K Law (General)
Divisions: Africana
Depositing User: Emmanuel Ndorimana
Date Deposited: 26 Jun 2018 08:53
Last Modified: 26 Jun 2018 08:53
URI: http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/4569

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