ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINIAL JUSTICE ACT(1)

ABSTRACT

Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 is an Act of National Assembly which is applicable to all criminal trials for offences established by an Act of the National Assembly and other offences punishable in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. That is, it is applicable in all Federal High Court Divisions, High Court of FCT, Abuja and Magistrates’ Courts within the FCT, Abuja. In the same vein, some states of the federation like Kogi State, Delta State and others have domesticated this Act in their respective territories. Being an innovative law in sphere of administration of criminal justice system, there are plethora of lacunas in the Act, among them which is the crux of this research is enforceability of the mode of recording the confessional statement of the suspect of the crime. Research showed that, though section 17(2) of ACJA, 2015 seemed unenforceable. However, from the totality of the Act, the said provision was mandatory as against discretionary or directory. This work adopted doctrinal method of research, wherein the researcher set out on findings mission using selected articles, books, case law and statutes to bring out the objective of this paper.