A Compulsory Research Report Submitted to Mzumbe University – Mbeya Campus College in the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the awards of the Bachelor of Laws Degree (LL.B) of Mzumbe University
This research aimed at making an assessment of the Rights of Arrested Person (pre-trial detainees): An Assessment of the Law and Practices. These rights are one of the criminal and civil rights guaranteed in the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977. The spirit behind the undertaking of this research is the examination of the effectiveness of the law governing the rights of the pre-trial detainees guaranteed by the law as well to identify the practice which violate the rights of the pre-trial detainees. This study is divided into five chapters. Chapter one contains the Introductory remarks covering Background, Statement of the problem, Objective and Significance of the study as well as a review of literature relevant to the study and Data collection. The method that deployed both primary and secondary methods, Primary methods involved interview tool which comprised of unstructured interview, questionnaire as well as observation tool which helped the researcher to get accurate data. Under secondary methods of data collection, the researcher reviewed secondary sources as previously done by other scholars that includes books, journals and articles publish and unpublished materials in order to widen up the understanding about the study. Chapter two addresses the concepts and theories on the Conceptual Framework on the Rights of Arrested Person (pre-trial detainees). Chapter three discusses on the legal framework on the Rights of Arrested Person (pre-trial detainees). Chapter Four discuss on the Presentation of the Research Findings and Data Analysis of the study. And finally, on Chapter Five draws the conclusions and recommendation of the study. Although the law provides for some rights but there is no effective mechanism to protect the same. The fundamental rights in Tanzania are not adequately protected; also, there are several loopholes in the laws warranting violation of the fundamental human rights. The police force among other things is subjected to political pressure, further the law does not provide for a prompt machinery to remedy abuse of rights. In general, the current legal set up has no sufficient checks against abuse of powers. Basically, findings of this research indicate that even though different domestic laws guarantee the rights to the arrested person (pre-trial detainees) but in practice the situation is very worth, it revealed that law enforcer done various forms of abuse including unlawful arresting and detention without taking the matter to the court of law timely, torture as well as inhumane treatment arises within the society. So, the study revealed that there is a lot of violation to the pre-trial detainees done by law enforcers in practice. It is not this basis that the researcher recommends on the need, it recommended among other things for the Constitution should guarantee the independence of the Police Force against political influence that will enable the police force to work under professional dictates being accountable to the law and the community only. Also, it is recommended that the law should provide immunity to subordinate police officers who disobey unlawful supernal orders. This will enable the police officers to act on the professional dictates and the law as opposed to mere whims.