Lukas Muntingh and Jean Redpath audit Kenya's criminal justice system

The Dullah Omar Institute's Prof Lukas Muntingh and Jean Redpath were lead consultants in a project to audit Kenya's Criminal Justice System. The Audit found that more poor people were arrested, charged and sent to prison as compared to the well to do. A major concern as per the findings was that, serious offences such as organized crimes, capital offences and sexual offences were found to have the highest rate of acquittal and withdrawals. The Audit called on the N.C.A.J to capitalize on the recommendations for institutional reforms in policing and prosecution systems.

Kenya's Legal Resources Foundation Trust (LRF) and Resources Oriented Development Initiatives (RODI-Kenya) under the umbrella of National Council on Administration of Justice (NCAJ) partnered to conduct a comprehensive Audit of Kenya’s Criminal Justice System with a focus on pre-trial detention, case-flow management and conditions of detention. The Dullah Omar Institute's Prof Lukas Muntingh and Jean Redpath provided research and drafting.

The Audit sought to provide a comprehensive analysis of the Criminal Justice System in Kenya and provided recommendations to strengthen service delivery and policy reforms in Kenya. The Audit went further to give an independent and objective view of the material aspects of the Criminal Justice System. The Audit identified institutions that have a constitutional mandate to deliver justice to Kenyans and the important role they play and areas that require further reforms within the Justice sector. The purpose of the audit was to provide a comprehensive analysis of the criminal justice system towards providing recommendations to strengthen service delivery and legislative policy as well as practice reforms in Kenya

The audit was conducted based on the principles of Vision 2030, and the National Values and Principles of Governance set out in Article 10 of the Constitution of Kenya. One of the major findings of the Audit was that Kenya’s Criminal Justice System was largely skewed against the poor. This was an indictment of a system that is expected to guarantee justice to people from all walks of life, including all forms of vulnerabilities.

The report is available here and from the website of the Legal Resources Foundation Trust.