A Research Report Submitted to Mzumbe University – Mbeya Campus College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Award of the Bachelor Degree of Laws (LL.B) of Mzumbe University
Malicious prosecution is the common law tort developed in England since the 18th century. This tort is one of the underdeveloped torts in the common law system such that although it has been around for a number of centuries. The work attempts to expound laws relating to malicious prosecution and factors for malicious prosecution typically done by police officers in Tanzania and finally recommendations on what to do in order to make police accountable.
The work employs both interviews and documentary review, also focused on group discussion in order to obtain relevant primary data in the field secondary data. These were conducted within Geita Region.
It is clearly that the police have enjoyed protection from civil liability the manner in which they conduct criminal investigations and prosecute offenders. More recently however, police have seen these protections diminish and their exposure to civil liability. The common law has evolved this to meet the demands of the modern welfare and thus in some jurisdictions it has been found proper to make the police accountable for the way they prosecute offenders without reason and probable cause.
The work points further that there are some factors which make police to prosecute maliciously as lack of knowledge of police officers on malicious prosecution, corruption, the burden of proof, poor infrastructure and equipment, abuse of discretionary power by police officers and involvement of police in investigation and prosecution. Finally, the work endeavors recommendations as improvement of police living and working condition, strengthen the national prosecution service, undertake legislative reforms, creation of legal awareness among public and strengthen accountability mechanisms of the police.