THE Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Gilbert Phiri, recently lamented the overcrowding in Zambia’s prisons, which we are told are currently housing three times more prisoners than the intended number of inmates in the facilities. Mr Phiri attributed this overcrowding partly to the propensity of our courts to jail wrongdoers at every turn, ignoring other means of dispute resolution. The Head of State also echoed a similar concern when he met Ugandan Chief Justice Alfonse Chigamoy Owiny-Dollo at State House last Monday, and advised the Judiciary to make use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Chief Justice Mumba Malila added to this conversations by saying the integration of alternative dispute resolution in criminal cases offers a unique opportunity to humanise justice....