DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2015.v03i01.011

Pages: 72-78

One hundred and twenty (120) respondents were interviewed to obtain information on the contribution of e-justice system in courts within the Tamale Metropolis. Most of the respondents were court users (45%), mainly males (68.3%), had some level of education (97.5%) and within the age group of 38-47 years (41.7%). Majority of the people interviewed were at the high court (55.8%). 92.5% (111) of the respondents admitted that the various courts have up to date e-justice equipment/devices and 60% indicated that they were installed in the past 1-3 years. Forty two respondents (35%) said that the e-justice system in the various courts are not always functioning whilst 31(25.8%) reported that the devices were always functioning. 75% of the respondents admitted that most of the e-justice devices in the various courts are obsolete and need to be replaced with modern ones. Civil, land and criminal cases in the high and district courts within four-year period (January 2009-January 2012), before the introduction of the e-justice system and the post-e-justice era were analyzed; and the results revealed that, there have been a dramatic improvement in absolute proportions of the number of high and district courts cases filed and disposed off during the post-electronic justice era than in the pre-e-justice era across all categories of cases within Tamale Metropolis. Therefore, effective management of e-justice system within the Metropolis will improve justice delivery.