REFORMING GHANA’S CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM TO PROMOTE RESTORATIVE JUSTICE: A LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK PROPOSAL

Restorative Justice (RJ) aims to create a platform for the various stakeholders of injustice, to wit, the offender, victim, and the community to meet and discuss the consequences of injustice and what can be done to repair the harm. Despite the limited challenges of RJ, it has been embraced as a growing movement within the criminal justice system around the world due to its overwhelming benefits to the victim and offender and the community as a whole by providing healing. This paper adopts the doctrinal research methodology in a bid to critically evaluate the legislative framework as well as some policy documents relevant to the implementation of the RJ theory within Ghana’s criminal justice system in a bid to ascertain whether the legal regime is fit for promoting effective implementation of the RJ theory in Ghana. The paper reveals that although varied statutes under Ghanaian law have BA, LL. B, BL, LL.M, Private Legal Practitioner and Lecturer, Law School, University of Professional Studies, Accra. eugeneoninku@gmail.com , https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4278-3280 Doi: 10.51655/ejl.2023.16 Received: 08.07.2022 Accepted: 14.10.2022 91 Oninku Vol 8 (2) 2022 Reforming Ghana’s Criminal Justice System to Promote Restorative Justice: A Legislative Framework Proposal been littered with some principles on RJ the legal regime in Ghana is not robust for the effective implementation of the RJ theory. The paper concludes by proffering recommendations for legislative measures that can be introduced under Ghanaian law to beef up the legal regime for the effective implementation and promotion of restorative programs within the criminal justice system of Ghana.