Case Management 

SOUTHERN NATIONS, NATIONALITIES AND PEOPLES’ REGION (SNNPR)

GENERAL

Case management is an inexact science in SNNPR as elsewhere. Given the general lack of technology and the physical environment to support technologies, emphasis may be needed to supporting simpler case reporting systems using paper and pen (PAPI) systems. 

Criminal justice

The data reported by police total 66,446 matters (9,448 cases pending from the previous year + 56,998 complaints during the year). Of these, 1,207 cases were investigated. It is unclear how then 43,640 cases were forwarded to the OAG.

The OAG data show a total of 90,190 new investigations during the year. It is unclear if these comprise the 43,640 cases forwarded by the police + investigations that the OAG themselves initiated without the involvement of the police.

The OAG proceeded to file charges in 37,385 cases.

In the same period, the First Instance Courts registered a total of 71,424 new criminal cases while the High Courts registered 9,176 new criminal cases. The total of 80,600 appears to be greater than the number of charges filed by the OAG.

The data from First Instance Courts show 65,000 cases disposed, of which 61,200 ended in a conviction, generating a conviction rate of over 94%.

The picture in the High Court is similar showing a conviction rate of over 80%.

These high conviction rates can be juxtaposed against the data from the Public Defenders Offices. They represented accused persons in a total of 170 cases, or in about 0.02% of the number of criminal cases filed in the courts (80,600). Paradoxically, the prosecutors from the OAG defended more ‘indigent’ accused persons (270) than the Public Defenders did.

POLICE: The data on investigation outcomes show that of the 56,998 complaints registered, 7,695 (or about 14%) were settled, by the police, through mediation. It is unclear how the police mediate cases, what training they have for this task, or what parameters police mediation is subject to.

OAG: According to OAG data, 28,246 criminal cases were disposed of. This number contrasts with the courts which say that 65,000 criminal cases were disposed of. The OAG data indicate that out of the 28,246 criminal cases disposed, 28,073 ended in a conviction – amounting to a conviction rate of over 99%.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S OFFICE: As noted earlier, the Public Defenders are able to assist only a fraction of all people who are charged with criminal offences in SNNPR. Public Defenders represented a total of 75 men and 95 women in the year 2020/1 out of 35,997 men and 1,388 women charged with criminal offences in the same period.

The 9 public defenders in SNNPR appear on average to have handled just under 19 cases in the year each (<2 each per month).

This contrasts with prosecutors who appear to have averaged 55 cases every year. This raises questions over the effective deployment of the Public Defenders in SNNPR as the low numbers of cases they take on seem not to be attributed to human resource constraints. This may require further research: why are Public Defenders not able to represent more clients?

COURTS: The data show that civil cases dominate the regular courts, with about 61% of cases (114,797) being civil cases. In addition to that, the Sharia courts, which hear only civil cases, disposed of 4,733 cases. This relatively large civil case load invites the question as to whether it might be possible to divert some of these cases towards traditional dispute resolution forums which often are both more accessible and far less costly than using the statutory system and courts.

PRISONS: The SNNPR prisons have the capacity to hold 15,000 people. They are currently said to be accommodating approximately 19,000 people. There is overcrowding therefore.

• 67% of prisoners are sentenced (12,700 prisoners): 4,220 – or 30% – are sentenced to prison terms of less than 3 years, i.e. for crimes at the lower end of the criminal scale. They could be considered for non-custodial sentences.
• The 2013 (EC) SNNPR Prison Administration Report shows that 1,060 prisoners were pardoned. Pardons, but also parole, are options to consider for prisoners sentenced to longer terms but who are deemed to have been sufficiently rehabilitated and therefore no longer pose a threat to society.
• Assuming 30% of unsentenced prisoners are also charged with relatively minor offences, they should be eligible for bail.

Taken together, these measures are likely to help bring down the number of prisoners to well below the maximum holding capacity in the region.