The Obscure Nature of Plea Bargaining in Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Crimes in Uganda: The Accused-Victims’ impugned Right to A Fair Hearing

Abstract

The Uganda Plea Bargain Rules [the Rules] allow victims to participate in plea negotiations, which aligns with the international principle of the need to capture the victims’ voices in decision-making.[1] Victim participation can be from two viewpoints: the complainants as victims and the accused as both victims and perpetrators. The paper underscores the latter victims’ concerns, arguing that the accused can also be victims of the same offences they commit, orchestrated by domestic violence, in several ways: as victims of an act(s) of violence from their partners—the primary complainants (or victims) in their charges; or as victims of violence orchestrated by their partners, which cascades to their innocent loved ones—also as primary (or victims) in their charges, but regarding this category, some die or are affected immensely. These accused, as victims, have a high propensity to plea bargain in self-conviction, to come to terms with the reality of their offences, irrespective of guilt, involuntarily, equivocally, when not well-informed, and when their convictions are not fully factual-based; contravening the international standards of a plea bargain. This lapse fundamentally flaws their right to a fair hearing as this paper highlights. In a case study of Uganda’s High Court bargained trials from 2014 to 2021 entitled: An Accused’s Self-Conviction to End Trial? Plea Bargaining and the Right to A Fair Hearing in Uganda,[2] analysis of 66 convicts (45 men and 21 women) narratives revealed that 20 (30.3 %) conflicted with the law after domestic related squabbles. They wrangled with either a wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, father of their children or husband. Seventeen (85%) were later charged with egregious offences, mostly murders, stemming from these situations, with the majority having a history of a cycle of violence. They all plea bargained, regardless of gender or literacy levels. Gender-related roles and spaces compelled mothers to plea bargain as nurturers and fathers to plea bargain as family heads, irrespective of guilt. Justice Actors seem blind to the causes that compel such accused victims into criminality. This paper suggests reforms towards their protection, calling for the courts thorough inquiries to justify their convictions.