Crime Check Foundation, CCF has partnered USAID to implement a project which will employ a software system, the Integrated Criminal Justice Case -Tracking System, CTS to track criminal cases.
The project dubbed ‘USAID Justice Sector Support Activity’ will enable key actors in the justice delivery system to electronically access and track the various stages of criminal cases to enhance justice delivery through the collection, collating and harmonization of data.
It will be implemented in forty target Districts in seven Regions including Western, Greater Accra, Northern, Bono, Upper East, Ashanti and Volta to ensure that through public education marginalized communities will become aware of the system to track its progress.
Speaking at the launch of the tracker, Executive Director of Crime Check Foundation, Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng pointed out some challenges hindering efficient justice delivery in the country.
“…. infractions of the law by some criminal justice agents, massive congestion and lack of a proper classification of our prisons….”
“…… missing dockets of accused persons and convicts, juveniles in adult prisons, the lack of a non-custodial sentencing law and the absence of an ex-convict re-integration policy among others appear to have blighted Ghana’s envious designation as a champion of human rights in Africa”
Mr. Oppong Kwarteng who doubles as the Ambassador Extraordinaire of Ghana Prisons expressed the readiness of his outfit to support the project. He said CTS has the capacity to strengthen the justice sector institutions for effective justice delivery.
“As Ambassador Extraordinaire of prisons, I have consistently advocated for a reform of our Criminal Justice laws. Our Time with the Prisoner Television Series’ has brought to the fore the numerous challenges that have made it difficult for our prisons to become purely correctional institutions” he added.
He said the objectives of the project; Increasing citizen oversight and monitoring of criminal cases; Strengthening advocacy for accountability of key Justice Sector Institutions, and; Increasing citizen knowledge and access to justice sector service will be actualized through Crime Check’s huge media following.
The 3 years project to be executed in collaboration with the Legal Resources Centre, LRC and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.
Speaking at the launch, Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei admitted the challenges the justice delivery system faces due to the lack of synchronization within the justice delivery chain.
“This tracker will help monitor from the point of arrest, investigations, prosecution, conviction, rehabilitation, and release,” He said.
According to the Executive Director of Legal Resources Centre, Daphne Nabila, the country’s justice system is undermined by a lack of collaboration between institutions such as the police, prisons, and courts.
“In spite of the progress made at enacting legal framework, the criminal justice system is characterized by slow and delayed adjudications due to the limited application of technology for tracking dockets” she observed.
The project started in August 2020 is expected to end in July 2023.
To access the software visit ghanaacts.gov.gh
