Exploring the Roles of Court Assessors in the Administration of Justice in the Criminal Division of the High Court of Uganda

Asiimwe Medard

School of Law Kampala International University, Uganda

ABSTRACT

This article explores the roles of court assessors in the administration of justice in the criminal division of the high court of Uganda. Besides being professionally educated, judges may not always have the required expertise to analyse and measure the probative value of expert evidence. To avoid miscarriages of justice and the expense of appeals, a second head with the requisite knowledge, experience and skill of reasoning in the relevant field will serve as a potential benefit, saving litigation costs and raising public confidence in the judicial system. On this note, the article calls for the disagreement on matters of fact and law between the assessors and the judge should not be done in open court but in the chambers. This will help create some confidence in the public that the assessors are one together with the judge; presently the lay assessors are totally controlled by the professional judges and this creates a doubtful impact in the public as to the relevancy of these people.

Keywords: Court assessors, Criminal division, Judges, Justice administration, Magistrates.

CITE AS: Asiimwe Medard (2024). Exploring the Roles of Court Assessors in the Administration of Justice in the Criminal Division of the High Court of Uganda. RESEARCH INVENTION JOURNAL OF LAW, COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGES 3(3):12-17.