Protection of Accused Persons with Hearing and Speech Disabilities under the Ethiopian Criminal Justice System

Abstract

Human rights are protected by all human beings by birth without any
discrimination on any grounds. Despite this, equal application of the
national, regional, and international human rights and fundamental
freedoms standards have been hardly observed to persons with
disabilities in general and accused persons with hearing and speech
disabilities (PHSDs) in particular. Since the criminal justice system
operates by the vehicle of oral communication, suspects or accused
PHSDs require special attention to ensure equal enjoyment of their due
process rights. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the
normative and practical mechanisms the Ethiopian criminal justice
system put in place to meet the appealing interests of PHSDs. The
findings of the study indicate criminally suspected and accused PHSDs
hardly exercise their due process rights in the criminal justice system of
Ethiopia. The attributing factors for this emanate from failure of the legal
frameworks to outline effective enforcement schemes, poor commitment
of law enforcing bodies to carry out their mandate in line with the
ascription of laws, and personal factors such as illiteracy. With the
aggregate effects of these circumstances, arrested PHSDs do not
effectively enjoy the rights incorporated in the Miranda Warnings.
Accused PHSDs cannot also exercise the rights safeguarded to accused
persons on an equal basis with others. This empirical study, inter alia,
examines the rights of suspected PHSDs from investigation to conviction
by assessing the normative protections and practices by employing a
qualitative research methodology.
Keywords: Procedural Safeguards, Persons with Hearing and Speech
Disabilities, Criminal Justice