Abstract
The Ghanaian justice system has been reformed in response to a lack of public trust and confidence. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that negative perceptions continue to linger. This chapter explores the perceptions of citizens who have come into contact with the justice system and finds that the utilisation of the justice system is complex and multidimensional, and that interpretations of it are context-specific. Crime and dispute resolution are primarily pursued through informal avenues of justice. Recourse to the formal justice system appears to be reserved for serious crimes and disputes, for which the informal avenues prove ineffective. Residents who have used formal justice mechanisms tend to hold negative views due to the shortcomings they encounter during their contact with the law.
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Adu-Poku, A.A. (2021). Perceptions of the Police and Courts in Ghana. In: Chan, H.C.(., Adjorlolo, S. (eds) Crime, Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71024-8_16
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