Alternative Dispute Resolution in Criminal Justice System in Bangladesh

Abstract

The popularity of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the criminal justice system is increasing day by day across the world. All types of courts, lower or higher, are burdened with a huge number of litigations. According to the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh Mr. S. K. Shinha, the number of pending cases only in the High Court Division shall need 100 years to be resolved. These problems have arisen due to the defects of the adversarial criminal justice system. The justice seekers are frequently harassed in the area of courts in most cases, especially in the criminal justice system, and justice is not so ensured. In this respect, ADR comes to make harassment-free, less-time consuming Criminal Law Legal System to ensure the proper justice without contradiction the natural justice. Most of the statutory laws including the main procedural law for criminal matters allow this system in most countries all over the world, but Bangladesh. There are some statutes of Bangladesh in which this popular system has been inserted. The ADR system should be developed more and more in other main statutes including the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898&the Penal Code, 1860, not standing inconsistent with natural justice. The article aims to uphold the importance of ADR in Criminal Justice. Keywords: ADR, Criminal Trial, Plea Bargain, Sentence Bargain, Fact Bargain, Restorative Justice, Compounding Offense, Criminal Legal System.