An Act to provide for the procedure to be followed in criminal cases.

Criminal Procedure Code Act

<p>The Criminal Procedure Code Act (Cap 122) is the primary law in Uganda that sets out how criminal cases are handled from arrest through appeal. It applies to everyone involved in the criminal justice system — police officers, magistrates, prosecutors, accused persons, victims, and witnesses. This Act defines your rights when you are arrested, explains when police can detain you without a warrant, outlines the bail process, and provides the rules for appealing a conviction or sentence. Whether you are a suspect, a defendant, or a member of the public, knowing these rules helps you understand what to expect and how to protect your legal rights.</p>

<h3>Key Definitions</h3>
<p>Understanding legal terms is essential. The Act defines important words like <strong>cognisable offence</strong> — a serious crime that carries a prison sentence of at least one year or a fine over 24 currency points — and <strong>complaint</strong> — an allegation that a crime has been committed. It also defines who qualifies as a <strong>chief magistrate</strong>, what a <strong>police station</strong> is, and how <strong>currency points</strong> are valued (set out in the Schedule). These definitions form the foundation for all procedures under the Act.</p>

<h3>When Police Can Arrest You Without a Warrant</h3>
<p>The Act gives police broad powers to arrest you without a warrant in specific situations. A police officer can arrest you if they have reasonable grounds to suspect you have committed a serious (cognisable) offence, or if you breach the peace in their presence. Other reasons include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Obstructing a police officer in the execution of their duty</li>
<li>Being a suspected army deserter</li>
<li>Being found at night with intent to commit a crime, or possessing housebreaking tools</li>
<li>Having stolen property in your possession</li>
<li>If a warrant for your arrest is already issued</li>
</ul>
<p>Police can also arrest suspected vagabonds or habitual robbers if you are hiding, have no visible means of support, or cannot give a good account of yourself. Importantly, the police must have <strong>reasonable suspicion</strong> — arbitrary arrests are not allowed.</p>

<h3>Your Rights During Arrest</h3>
<p>When you are arrested, you have several important rights:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>To be told why you are being arrested:</strong> A written order with your name and the offence must be given to the arresting officer if you are arrested without a warrant (Section 12).</li>
<li><strong>Against excessive force:</strong> The police can only use the force necessary to prevent your escape — handcuffs or tying you up is only allowed if you actively resist or try to flee.</li>
<li><strong>To be searched respectfully:</strong> Women must be searched only by another woman, and your clothing cannot be taken unless it is evidence.</li>
<li><strong>To have your arrest reported to a magistrate within 24 hours:</strong> The police must notify a magistrate of your arrest, even if you are released on bail. This prevents secret detention.</li>
<li><strong>To be brought before a magistrate without unnecessary delay:</strong> If you are arrested without a warrant, you must be brought before a magistrate or senior police officer as soon as possible, and in any case within 24 hours for non-serious crimes (e.g., not murder, treason, or rape).</li>
</ul>

<h3>Arrest by Private Citizens (Citizen's Arrest)</h3>
<p>You have the right to arrest someone if you witness them committing a serious crime (cognisable offence) or if you reasonably suspect they have committed a felony. If your property is being damaged, you or your employees can arrest the person causing the damage without a warrant. However, you must hand the arrested person over to a police officer or take them to a police station as quickly as possible. The police will then decide whether to hold them or release them. If there is no good reason to believe they committed a crime, they must be released immediately.</p>

<h3>Police Powers to Prevent Crime and Protect Property</h3>
<p>Police have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent crimes, especially serious ones. They can arrest you without a warrant if they know you are planning to commit a cognisable offence and believe arrest is the only way to stop it. They can also intervene to prevent damage to public property (buildings, roads, canals, telegraph lines, etc.) and can stop anyone from removing public landmarks. If a police officer learns about a planned serious crime, they must report it to their supervisor so action can be taken.</p>

<h3>Appeals from Criminal Convictions and Sentences</h3>
<p>If you are convicted, you have the right to appeal to a higher court. The key procedures are:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Filing a notice of appeal:</strong> You must file a written notice within 14 days of the judgment. The notice must describe the judgment, provide your contact address, and give your reasons. You can ask for a free copy of the judgment and then file your grounds within 14 days after receiving it.</li>
<li><strong>Fee:</strong> You must pay a filing fee, but it can be waived if you cannot afford it.</li>
<li><strong>Appeal from prison:</strong> If you are in custody, you can give your appeal documents to the prison officer, who must forward them to the registrar. The date you hand them over counts as the date of filing.</li>
<li><strong>Appellate court powers:</strong> The higher court can set aside your conviction if the original decision was unreasonable, based on wrong law, or caused a serious injustice. It can reduce or increase your sentence, or even find you guilty of a different offence. If your sentence is three years or less, the court may suspend it under special conditions.</li>
<li><strong>Second and third appeals:</strong> Appeals from a magistrate’s court go to the High Court, and from there to the Court of Appeal — but only on a point of law, not on facts or sentence severity. A third appeal is possible only if the High Court certifies a major legal question or the Court of Appeal itself decides to hear it for justice’s sake.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Bail Pending Appeal and Your Rights</h3>
<p>If you are convicted and file an appeal, you can apply for bail while waiting for the appeal to be heard. The appeal court has discretion to grant bail. If you are not on bail, the time you spend in custody generally does not count toward your sentence, but after six weeks, your sentence begins to run. You can also choose to be treated as a convicted prisoner, which makes your sentence start from the original sentencing date — the court must inform you of this option.</p>

<h3>High Court Revision Powers</h3>
<p>The High Court can review the records of any criminal case decided by a magistrate’s court to check for errors or unfairness. This is called <strong>revision</strong>. If you think a magistrate made a serious mistake, you can ask the High Court to review your case. The High Court can correct errors, increase your sentence, or change other orders — but it cannot turn an acquittal into a conviction unless you were also convicted of a different offence in the same case. You must be given a chance to explain yourself before an order that harms you is made. If you could have appealed but chose not to, you cannot use the revision process.</p>

<p>For specific legal advice, consult a qualified lawyer or the nearest magistrate’s court.</p>

Key legal terms in criminal procedure are defined so you know exactly what they mean. This section tells you who qualifies as a chief magistrate and how their appointment is officially announced. It explains that a cognisable offence is one serious enough to carry a prison sentence of at least one year or a fine over 24 currency points. A complaint is an allegation that someone has committed a crime, whether known or unknown. Currency points have a specific value set out in the Schedule to this Act. The section also defines who is in charge of a police station, who is considered a police officer, and what counts as a police station. These definitions help you understand your rights and obligations when dealing with criminal proceedings.

Understand the meanings of important legal terms like cognisable offence, chief magistrate, and police officer in Uganda's criminal law.

Section 1: Definitions of Key Criminal Procedure Terms

"chief magistrate" means any person whose appointment to be, or to act as, a chief magistrate has been published in the Gazette;

"cognisable offence" means any offence—

which on conviction may be punished by a term of imprisonment for one year or more; or

which on conviction may be punished by a fine exceeding twenty-four currency points;

"complaint" means an allegation that some person known or unknown has committed or is guilty of an offence;

"currency point" has the value assigned to it in the <span class="underline-gradient ref-link" data-ref="122:Schedule">Schedule</span> to this Act;

"officer in charge of a police station" includes any officer superior in rank to an officer in charge of a police station and also includes, when the officer in charge of the police station is absent from the station house, or unable from illness or other cause to perform his or her duties, the police officer present at the station house who is next in rank to that officer, and is above the rank of constable, or, when the Minister so directs, any other police officer so present;

"police officer" includes any member of a police force established under the <span class="underline-gradient ref-link" data-ref="const-">Constitution</span> or the <span class="underline-gradient ref-link" data-ref="Police Act:">Police Act</span>;

"police station" means a post or place appointed by the Inspector General of Police to be a police station, and includes any local area policed from the station.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

Interpretation

When a police officer arrests you, they must actually touch or hold you, unless you agree to be arrested by word or action. If you resist or try to escape, the officer can use whatever force is needed to arrest you. However, the law does not allow the officer to use more force than is reasonable and necessary in the situation. This protects you from excessive or unnecessary force during arrest.

Learn the legal rules for arrests in Uganda: police must touch or confine you unless you submit, may use force if you resist, but force must be reasonable.

Section 2: Rules for Arrests in Uganda

In making an arrest, the police officer or other person making the arrest, shall actually touch or confine the body of the person to be arrested, unless there is a submission to the custody by word or action.

If a person forcibly resists the endeavour to arrest him or her, or attempts to evade the arrest, the police officer or other person making the arrest may use all means necessary to effect the arrest.

Nothing in this section shall be deemed to justify the use of greater force than was reasonable in the particular circumstances in which it was employed or was necessary for the apprehension of the offender.

Arrest

You must allow a police officer or a person with a warrant to enter your home or property if they believe the person they want to arrest is inside. They have the right to search the place. If you do not let them in, they can break open doors or windows after telling you their authority and purpose and demanding entry. This is allowed only if the police officer cannot get a warrant in time without giving the suspect a chance to escape.

Learn your rights: Occupants must allow police entry if they believe a suspect is inside. If refused, police may break doors after notifying authority and purpose.

Section 3: Police Search of Premises for Arrest Suspect

If any person acting under a warrant of arrest, or any police officer having authority to arrest, has reason to believe that the person to be arrested has entered into or is within any place, the person residing in or being in charge of that place shall, on demand of the person acting under the warrant or the police officer, allow him or her free ingress to the place and afford all reasonable facilities for a search in it.

If ingress to the place cannot be obtained under subsection (1), it shall be lawful in any case for a person acting under a warrant, and in any case in which a warrant may issue, but cannot be obtained without affording the person to be arrested an opportunity to escape, for a police officer, to enter the place and search in it, and in order to effect an entrance into the place, to break open any outer or inner door or window of any house or place, whether that of the person to be arrested or of any other person, if after notification of his or her authority and purpose, and demand of admittance duly made, he or she cannot otherwise obtain admittance.

Search of place entered by person sought to be arrested

A police officer or anyone with permission to make an arrest has the right to break out of a house or place if they are trapped there after entering lawfully to make an arrest. They can also free any other person who is trapped with them. This right only applies if they entered the place legally for the purpose of arresting someone. If you are an officer and someone locks you in, you are allowed to force your way out to free yourself.

Section 4 of the Criminal Procedure Code Act: learn when police can break out of any house or place if detained while making a lawful arrest in Uganda.

Section 4: When Police Can Break Out of a Building in Uganda

A police officer or other person authorised to make an arrest may break out of any house or place in order to liberate himself or herself or any other person who, having lawfully entered for the purpose of making an arrest, is detained there.

Power to break out for purposes of liberation

You have the right to be arrested without being subjected to more physical restraint than is absolutely necessary to stop you from escaping. Police or any person making an arrest cannot use excessive force, such as handcuffs or tying, unless you are actively trying to run away. This law protects your dignity and personal freedom during arrest. If you believe the restraint used was unnecessary, you can challenge it in court. However, reasonable restraint to prevent escape is allowed.

Section 5 of Uganda's Criminal Procedure Code protects arrested persons from unnecessary physical restraint. Only force needed to prevent escape is allowed. Know your rights.

Section 5: Your Right Against Excessive Restraint During Arrest

A person arrested shall not be subjected to more restraint than is necessary to prevent his or her escape.