SURVIVAL ANALYSIS OF AVERAGE TIME TO JUSTICE DELIVERY IN UPPER EAST AND UPPER WEST REGIONS OF GHANA

Abstract

The right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court when charged with a criminal offence and to a speedy and public trial in all criminal prosecutions are some of the basic rights guaranteed by the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana. In this study, survival analysis was used to determine the average time to justice delivery for the upper east and west regions of Ghana both first collectively and as individual entities. Type of cases that last longer in courts and the average time the various courts spend on these cases was also determined. A model describing the contributory factors to the length of time a case stays in court was obtained and used in predicting the average time to justice delivery. Four major factors were found to contribute significantly to the average time to justice delivery. These were; the type of court handling the case, the type or nature of case, the occupation of the accused and the number of subsequent hearings. The average time a case stays in court or the average time to justice delivery using the derived model was found to be 103 days. Also, cases terminated faster in Upper East courts as compared to the Upper West courts. Civil cases tend to have shorter life spans than criminal cases.