Malawi's Missing Court Files and the Kafantayeni Resentencing Project

Carreau, E

Malawi's Missing Court Files and the Kafantayeni Resentencing Project

Carreau, E

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Publisher:: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of African Law, 2020, 64, (3), pp. 319-336
Issue Date:: 2020-10-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Carreau, E
dc.date.accessioned	2021-06-17T20:20:59Z
dc.date.available	2021-06-17T20:20:59Z
dc.date.issued	2020-10-01
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of African Law, 2020, 64, (3), pp. 319-336
dc.identifier.issn	0021-8553
dc.identifier.issn	1464-3731
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/149600
dc.description.abstract	Missing court files pose a serious issue regarding access to justice for illiterate and indigent prisoners, especially if the files go missing after the prisoner has been convicted and sentenced. Malawi's High Court recently grappled with the issue of missing court files post-conviction in the course of a large resentencing process, known to the legal community as the Kafantayeni Project. The Kafantayeni Project resentenced over 150 prisoners whose mandatory death sentences for murder were deemed unconstitutional, despite the majority of them missing court files. This article outlines the state of judicial record keeping in sub-Saharan Africa, the origins of the Kafantayeni Project, the extent of the record keeping problem it uncovered, how the judiciary resolved those issues while adding to the jurisprudence on missing court files, and the future implications for Malawi and elsewhere.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of African Law
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1017/S0021855320000224
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	1801 Law
dc.title	Malawi's Missing Court Files and the Kafantayeni Resentencing Project
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	64
utslib.for	1801 Law
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2021-06-17T20:20:58Z
pubs.issue	3
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	64
utslib.citation.issue	3

Abstract:

Missing court files pose a serious issue regarding access to justice for illiterate and indigent prisoners, especially if the files go missing after the prisoner has been convicted and sentenced. Malawi's High Court recently grappled with the issue of missing court files post-conviction in the course of a large resentencing process, known to the legal community as the Kafantayeni Project. The Kafantayeni Project resentenced over 150 prisoners whose mandatory death sentences for murder were deemed unconstitutional, despite the majority of them missing court files. This article outlines the state of judicial record keeping in sub-Saharan Africa, the origins of the Kafantayeni Project, the extent of the record keeping problem it uncovered, how the judiciary resolved those issues while adding to the jurisprudence on missing court files, and the future implications for Malawi and elsewhere.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/149600