NCJ Number
126239
Journal
International Journal of Sociology of Law Volume: 18 Issue: 3 Dated: (August 1990) Pages: 299-316
Date Published
1990
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article presents an analysis of a participant-observation study conducted in selected Magistrates courts in Lagos, Nigeria, during a 4-month period in 1984 as part of an ethnographic research into police powers and accountability in the Nigerian criminal process. It provides detailed description of formal and informal court procedures for working class defendants and of interviews with magistrates and lawyers.
Abstract
In a 2-part format, evidence is presented supporting the argument that class denomination and judicial misconduct is practiced in the Nigerian Magistrates courts. The first part of the argument on degradation ceremonies presents excerpts from court cases illustrating the nature and extent of the ritual of degradation and control in which the magistrates and court clerks silence the defendants through acts of intimidation and abuse. The second part, assumption of guilt before trial, focuses on the coercive and systematic suppression of defendants' allegations of illegality leveled against the police. It concludes with a political argument for judicial accountability as a means to prevent the judicial misconduct of Nigerian magistrates toward the working class which is economically incapacitated to deal with this judicial abuse of power. 3 notes and 23 references