CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT REVIEW: MORE DISCUSSION PAPERS OUT FOR COMMENT

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT REVIEW: MORE DISCUSSION PAPERS OUT FOR COMMENT

• 31 August 2026
• Justice & Constitutional Development
• SA Legal Academy

As part of an ongoing review of the 1977 Criminal Procedure Act, the South African Law Reform Commission has released six more discussion papers – calling for input by 2 October 2026.

According to the accompanying media statement, to be considered with four papers published in February 2025, five in February 2026 and two in March 2026, the latest discussion documents ‘seek to contribute to a new criminal procedural law that is modernised and conforms to the country’s democratic Constitution, (along with) … its underlying values and principles’. To that end, they explore:

• ‘reviewing and updating the various categories of offences created under and competent verdicts listed in the Act, with a view to adapting them to the Constitution’ (discussion paper 176 )
• ‘examining the content and scope of the right to legal representation of arrested, detained and accused persons, including at state expense, and the extension of the right to legal representation to victims of crime, including in relation to the institution of private prosecution under the Act’ (discussion paper 177)
• ‘adapting the laws and principles relating to mercy and pardon under the Act to the new constitutional framework founded on the rule of law, including matters pertaining to judicial review and appeals against, or in relation to the decisions taken by the President and the Minister of Justice & Constitutional Development concerning persons found to have been wrongfully convicted’ (discussion paper 178)
• further reforming the dispensation for criminal record expungement (discussion paper 179), including:
  • the ‘consideration of automatic expungement of criminal records in deserving cases’
  • ‘the determination of different waiting periods with regard to certain categories of convictions’, and
  • ‘categories of convictions … (that) should not qualify for expungement’
• ‘reviewing and adapting the law and principles relating to criminal jurisdiction under the Act, and adapting and aligning them to the right to a fair trial and access to justice imperative, (as) enshrined in the Constitution’ (discussion paper 180 ), and
• ‘reviewing the crime of contempt of court in criminal proceedings and adapting the common law contempt of court principles, including the summary procedure, to the Constitution’ (discussion paper 181).

Along with SA reports published at the time, discussion documents released in 2025 and earlier this year can be found by clicking the links below:

• February 2025 report
• February 2026 report
• March 2026 report

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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