Abstract:
Victims; a person who has suffered physical, sexual, financial, or emotional harm as a result of
the commission of a crime.
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to examine the High Court’s ICD in the management and pathways for
prosecuting serious crimes in Uganda. The underlying objects included; examining the
effectiveness of ICD’s legal frameworks in prosecuting serious crimes; examining the challenges
faced by the High Court’s ICD of Uganda in prosecuting serious crimes; and examining the
pathways to effective prosecution of serious crimes at the High Court’s ICD of Uganda. Case
study design was used for this study and data was collected, processed and analyzed using a
mixed method of both quantitative and qualitative in research, with a purpose of gaining a
holistic understanding of the problem at hand. Purposive sampling techniques were used to select
the target respondents. The qualitative data was thematically analyzed while quantitative data
were analyzed using SPSS version 22 and for better presentation, tables were done in MS Excel
2013. Key findings establish the fact that there are contradictions in the operations of ICD’s legal
frameworks caused by the Amnesty laws, ICC Act and Death penalty. Equally, most challenges
faced by ICD are reckoned by limited financial support and complexities in human resource
management coupled with stakeholder’s lack of unified engagement in trying serious crimes.
Additionally, the forementioned have also affected the pathways for prosecuting serious crimes,
which are effective but are not to their full capacity. Therefore, the ICD should ensure that all
parties to a conflict are subject to the jurisdiction of domestic initiatives to avoid contradictions
in legal frameworks. The death penalty should be used as a potential sanction while enforcing
sentence, ensure timely public information and outreaches, there is need for more financial and
human resources, staff require specialized training and skilling, Witness protection and the Legal
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Aid bill are much needed, harmonizing the works of the ICD and the ODPP should be prioritized
and more stakeholder engagement within the division is much needed
