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The role of public opinion in court decisions on the legality of the death penalty : a look at Uganda and South Africa

Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006.

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Other Authors: Atuguba, Raymond A.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2006
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Atuguba, Raymond A.
author_browse Atuguba, Raymond A.
author_facet Atuguba, Raymond A.
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dc_rights_str_mv Centre for Human Rights, Law Faculty, University of Pretoria
description Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006.
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
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license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2006
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spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/1242 The role of public opinion in court decisions on the legality of the death penalty : a look at Uganda and South Africa Atuguba, Raymond A. Tumwine, William UCTD Public opinion Popular views Court decisions Court cases Death penalty Capital punishment Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006. Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Raymond A. Atuguba at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon "Public opinion finds its way into the justice system and finally to the decision making platform of the courts through various channels. These include public opinion polls, legislative debates, writings of jurists, social pressures, political situations and referendum on legal issues. Regarding the death penalty, the role of public opinion becomes more debatable because as Kakooza explains, there is a difficulty of addressing death penalty issues as values, national aspirations and conditions of social intercourse vary from society to society. The death penalty touches life, which is the most important of all human rights. It, therefore, remains debatable as to whether it is the courts or the people that may decide the legality of criminal sanctions like the death penalty. Protection of judicial independence conflicts with the need for legitimacy, given that courts are occupied by un-elected judges. While sticking to legalistic and official positions, courts must keep in touch with the public since they need the latter's approval for decisions to be respected and implemented. It is also not clear whether, and if so, to what extent, courts may rely upon public opinion in making decisions, thus the importance of assessing the role it sould play and coming out with a way forward. ... Chapter one comprises the background of the study, statement of the problem, significance of the study, aims and objectives of the study, literature review, methodology and limitations of the study. Chapter two is a discussion of the role public opinion ought to play in court decisions in general, and decisions on the legality of the death penatly in particular. Chapter three is an analysis of the actual influence of public opinion on court decisions on the legality of the death penalty. It also has a comparison of court practice in Uganda and South Africa and includes a critique. Chapter four is a presentation of arguments for and against the role of pulic opinion in court decisions. Chapter five contains conclusions from the research findings and recommendations on how public opinion should be treated in court decisions generally, and the legality of the death penalty in particular." -- Introduction. http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html Centre for Human Rights LLM 2006-12-04T11:48:45Z 2006-12-04T11:48:45Z 06-Oct 2006 Mini Dissertation Tumwine, W 2006, The role of public opinion in court decisions on the legality of the death penalty : a look at Uganda and South Africa, LLM Mini Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/1242> http://hdl.handle.net/2263/1242 en LLM Dissertations 2006(28) Centre for Human Rights, Law Faculty, University of Pretoria 179990 bytes application/pdf application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Public opinion
Popular views
Court decisions
Court cases
Death penalty
Capital punishment
The role of public opinion in court decisions on the legality of the death penalty : a look at Uganda and South Africa
title The role of public opinion in court decisions on the legality of the death penalty : a look at Uganda and South Africa
title_full The role of public opinion in court decisions on the legality of the death penalty : a look at Uganda and South Africa
title_fullStr The role of public opinion in court decisions on the legality of the death penalty : a look at Uganda and South Africa
title_full_unstemmed The role of public opinion in court decisions on the legality of the death penalty : a look at Uganda and South Africa
title_short The role of public opinion in court decisions on the legality of the death penalty : a look at Uganda and South Africa
title_sort role of public opinion in court decisions on the legality of the death penalty a look at uganda and south africa
topic UCTD
Public opinion
Popular views
Court decisions
Court cases
Death penalty
Capital punishment
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/1242