Administration Of Pardon Under Criminal Justice System: Assessing Its Legal And Practical Challenges In Hawassa City Administration

Abstract

International laws and standards set out principles and minimum safeguards to administer pardon and to assist grantees reintegration into the society. Those principles includes, the principle of non-discrimination, fairness and transparency in decision-making process, the rehabilitative and reintegration needs of inmates, victim and community participation in decision-making process and collaborative work of different stakeholders in attaining objectives of pardon. In order to establish comprehensive administration of pardon, domestic legislations have to comply with international human rights laws and national constitution. This helps grantees to be law-abiding and responsible, reducing stigmatization, overcrowdings and reoffending, and to strengthen rule of law. However, when compared with the above standards, administration of pardon in Ethiopia has not yet taken root in the criminal justice system. The way pardon administered and implemented in Hawassa city administration is analyzed using national, international standards and recognized good practices of other jurisdictions as a bench mark. And this research intends to explore the role and effective administration of pardon and its contributions in protecting the rights of victims, public and the offenders; whether SNNP regional pardon laws ensure national and international standards of treatment of grantees; and identifying legal, institutional and practical challenges in administration and execution of pardon laws. The study is conducted based on interviews, reviewing and analysis of literatures, and experiences of other countries are consulted. Moreover, findings of the study has revealed that lack of follow up and supervising organs, lack of qualified professionals in rehabilitation and reintegration process of grantees, low political attention given for pardon and looking pardon as a means to reduce overcrowdings and government costs, improper interpretation of laws are the major factors that limited the effective administration of pardon. Generally, absence of effective institutional arrangements undermined the effective administration and fair execution of pardon in Hawassa city administration.