Politicization of the Criminal Justice System: A Liberian Perspective

The Criminal Justice System-especially the police viewed as the gate keeper of the system operate within a sociopolitical environment. This highly polarized environment creates grounds that make the system vulnerable to political influence that has implication for professional conduct and public trust in every democratic society. To address this challenge, security sector reform targeting core law enforcement agencies of the criminal justice system was introduced. However, the reform is unable to tackle the vulnerability emanating from said environment. Using the Liberian society as the contextual background, this book for the first time presents the argument pertaining to the politicization of the criminal justice system-especially the Police. As a remedy, the book proffers the argument about law reform that will address the politicization of the system. Particular emphasis is placed on Article 54 of the 1986 Liberian Constitution. Finally, as form of law reform, the book arguedthat creating tenured positions will significantly help to free the system from undue political influence.