Criminal Justice System

The criminal justice system (CJS) is the apparatus through which the state responds to crime — investigation, prosecution, adjudication and correction. It is typically described as comprising four pillars: police, prosecution, judiciary and corrections. Together they reflect a society's choices about due process, deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation and restoration.

The four pillars

1. Police

Pakistan's policing is regulated by:

• Police Order 2002 (replaced the Police Act 1861 in most provinces; partially revived in some).
• Provincial Police Acts — Punjab Police Order 2002, Sindh Police Act 2019, KP Police Act 2017, Balochistan Police Act 2011.
• Specialised agencies: FIA (Federal Investigation Agency), ANF (Anti-Narcotics Force), Frontier Constabulary, Rangers, Levies, NAB (anti-corruption).

Police functions: prevention, detection, registration of FIR, investigation, arrest, search/seizure, prosecution support.

2. Prosecution

The Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers) Act 2006 and equivalent provincial statutes created an independent prosecution service separate from police. The prosecutor decides whether to file challan (charge-sheet), withdraw a case, or seek discharge.

3. Judiciary

The criminal judiciary has a clear hierarchy:

Level	Court	Jurisdiction
Trial	Magistrate (1st, 2nd, 3rd class)	Minor offences
Trial	Sessions Court	Major offences (life, death, 10+ years)
Appellate	High Court	Death-confirmation, appeals
Final	Supreme Court	Constitutional appeals; Article 185
Specialised	Anti-Terrorism Court; Banking Court; Special Court (CNS); Drug Court; Family Court	Subject-specific

4. Corrections

The Prisons Act 1894 and Pakistan Prison Rules 1978 (provincial variants since 18th Amendment) govern adult prisons. Adult facilities include central jails, district jails and women's prisons. Special institutions:

• Borstal Institutions (Borstal Schools Act 1929) — for juveniles.
• Observation Homes / Rehabilitation Centres under JJSA 2018.
• Probation — Probation of Offenders Ordinance 1960.
• Parole — Pakistan Good Conduct Prisoners' Probational Release Act 1926.

Procedural framework

Pakistan's criminal procedure rests on three core codes:

1. Pakistan Penal Code 1860 (PPC) — substantive criminal law.
2. Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 (CrPC) — procedure for investigation, trial and appeal.
3. Qanun-e-Shahadat Order 1984 (QSO) — law of evidence.

Specialised regimes apply for terrorism (Anti-Terrorism Act 1997), narcotics (Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997), corruption (National Accountability Ordinance 1999), banking offences (FIO 2001) and cyber-crimes (PECA 2016).

Stages of criminal process

1. Reporting and registration of FIR — § 154 CrPC.
2. Investigation by police — collection of evidence, search, seizure, arrest.
3. Challan (charge-sheet) under § 173 CrPC.
4. Pre-trial procedure — production before magistrate, remand, bail.
5. Trial: framing of charge → prosecution evidence → § 342 statement of accused → defence evidence → arguments → judgment.
6. Appeal / revision to higher court.
7. Execution of sentence.

Recent reforms in Pakistan

• Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act 2021 — special tribunals, ARCCs, DNA evidence.
• National Action Plan 2014 (revised 2021) — counter-terrorism cooperation.
• National Internal Security Policy 2022.
• Police Reforms Committee Report 2018 — recommendations on professionalisation, independence, accountability.
• Federal Judicial Academy — training of judges.
• Witness Protection Act 2017 (Punjab) and successors — addresses witness intimidation.
• National Forensic Science Agency (proposed) and provincial forensic labs.

Models of criminal justice

Herbert Packer's (1968) seminal article The Two Models of the Criminal Process contrasts:

Crime Control Model	Due Process Model
Efficiency in fact-finding	Reliability in fact-finding
Presumption of guilt	Presumption of innocence
Informal, administrative	Formal, adjudicative
Police-dominated	Court-dominated
Speedy disposition	Procedural safeguards

Pakistan formally adheres to the Due Process Model (Article 10A of the Constitution — right to fair trial), but in practice elements of Crime Control persist — long pre-trial detention, low conviction rates, weak forensic infrastructure, and overcrowded prisons.

Challenges and reform agenda

Persistent challenges in Pakistan's CJS:

1. Low conviction rate — World Justice Project (Rule of Law Index) ranks Pakistan in lower quartile for criminal justice.
2. Pre-trial detention — over 60% of prison population in some provinces are under-trial.
3. Overcrowding — prisons operate at 130–200% of capacity.
4. Forensic capacity gaps — DNA, ballistics, digital forensics insufficient.
5. Witness intimidation — only Punjab has a functional Witness Protection Programme.
6. Police investigative quality — World Bank and donor-supported reform programmes ongoing.
7. Coordination across agencies — police, prosecution, judiciary often work in silos.

International benchmarks (UNODC Criminal Justice Assessment Toolkit, UN Standard Minimum Rules — Nelson Mandela Rules 2015) provide frameworks for reform. Pakistan's GSP+ obligations require continuing compliance with ICCPR and CAT norms — an important external driver of reform.