A Compulsory Research Report Submitted to Mzumbe University – Mbeya Campus College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Bachelor Degree of Laws (LL. B) of Mzumbe University
This research report based on making a legal analysis on the Plea-Bargaining Agreement in the Administration of Criminal Justice in Tanzania Mainland. The study made analysis on both the law and its practical implementation. It explores on the pitfalls facing the law and its implementation in Tanzania.
The researcher had objectives and assumptions in completion of the study. The General objective was to make an analysis on the legal position and practice on plea bargaining agreements in the administration of criminal justice in Tanzania Mainland, with the view of identifying if it is designed to meet the paramount objective of providing justice. Specific objectives include, the examination on the current law governing plea agreements, with the view of identifying if it is designed to protect the interests of both parties concerned, to inquire any violations on the implementation of plea agreements between the concerned parties and lastly to examine the awareness to the general public concerning the practice of plea agreements in Tanzania. The hypotheses include, the current law governing plea agreements is not sufficient to protect the interests of both parties concerned, there is violations on the practice of plea agreements, which is detriment to the provision of justice and that, the general public is not aware on how the proper and legal plea agreements should be done.
The study finds that, the law is not effective enough to protect the interests of the concerned parties. Also, there are notable pitfalls on the practice of plea-bargaining agreements, non-existence of rules and regulation to regulate the bargaining process has also been condemned, interference with the functioning of the prosecutors by the executive has also been identified. Lastly, the general public is not aware on how the proper legal plea bargaining need to be done.
Therefore, it can be deduced that, the law is ineffective to guide the bargaining process. Hence the researcher has recommended that CJ should make specific rules and regulations to guide the bargaining process, strongly the government should prevent and deter corruption practices, also plea-bargaining education should publicly be provided, lastly the reforms on the investigative system for the effective and trustworthy plea-bargaining process in Tanzania should be done.