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Ghana Criminal Code and Courts
Two of the three categories of offenses cited in the Criminal
Code concern offenses against the individual. The third category
includes a series of offenses against public order, health and
morality, and the security of the state as well as piracy, perjury,
rioting, vagrancy, and cruelty to animals. Several offenses reflect
Ghana's traditional laws, including drumming with the intent to
provoke disorder, cocoa smuggling, and settlement of private
disputes by methods of traditional ordeal.
Criminal Court procedure is guided by the Criminal Procedure
Code of 1960 as subsequently amended. As in British law, habeas
corpus is allowed, and the courts are authorized to release
suspects on bail. Ghana's legal system does not use grand juries,
but, in accordance with constitutionally guaranteed fundamental
rights, defendants charged with a criminal offense are entitled to
a trial by jury.
Five degrees of offenses are recognized in Ghana. Capital
offenses, for which the maximum penalty is death by hanging,
include murder, treason, and piracy. First-degree felonies
punishable by life imprisonment are limited to manslaughter, rape,
and mutiny. Second-degree felonies, punishable by ten years'
imprisonment, include intentional and unlawful harm to persons,
perjury, and robbery. Misdemeanors, punishable by various terms of
imprisonment, include assault, theft, unlawful assembly, official
corruption, and public nuisances. Increased penalties apply to
individuals with a prior criminal record. Corporal punishment is
not permitted. Punishments for juveniles are subject to two
restrictions: no death sentence may be passed against a juvenile,
and no juvenile under age seventeen may be imprisoned. Regulations
and laws such as these are not applied equitably. Indeed,
defendants habitually resort to one or another measure to avoid or
ameliorate punishment.
The Ghanaian court system is a multifaceted organization. The
Supreme Court of Ghana, which consists of the chief justice and
four other justices, is the final court of appeal and has
jurisdiction over matters relating to the enforcement or the
interpretation of constitutional law. The Court of Appeal, which
includes the chief justice and not fewer than five other judges,
has jurisdiction to hear and to determine appeals from any
judgment, decree, or High Court of Justice order. The High Court of
Justice, which consists of the chief justice and not fewer than
twelve other justices, has jurisdiction in all matters, civil and
criminal, other than those involving treason.
Before mid-1993, lower courts consisted of circuit courts,
which had jurisdiction in civil matters and in all criminal cases
except offenses in which the maximum punishment was death or the
offense was treason; district or magistrate courts with
jurisdiction over civil suits and criminal cases except firstdegree felonies; and juvenile courts, empowered to hear charges
against persons under seventeen years of age. In 1982 the PNDC
created a parallel hierarchy of special courts called public
tribunals, which exercised only criminal jurisdiction, including
some offenses under the Criminal Code
(see The Judiciary
, ch. 4).
Members of the public tribunals and their panels were mostly lay
people who sat with lawyers. Proceedings were often swift and could
result in death sentences. There were no provisions for appeals
until 1984, when the PNDC established the National Public Tribunal,
which consisted of three to five members, to receive appeals from
lower tribunals. Its decisions, however, were final and could not
be appealed. In 1982 a five- to seven-member Special Military
Tribunal was also established to handle crimes committed by
military personnel.
In July 1993, the Parliament of the Fourth Republic
incorporated the public tribunals into the existing lower courts
system, except for the National Public Tribunal, which was
abolished. A new hierarchy of lower courts was established
consisting of community tribunals, circuit tribunals, and regional
tribunals. The tribunals have original jurisdiction in both civil
and criminal cases, and decisions can be appealed through higher
courts. In late 1994, indications were that the new tribunals had
not yet begun to function in many parts of the country, at least
partly for lack of funds.
Data as of November 1994
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