The lower courts, which play an essential gatekeeping function for fair trials, “are in poor shape [due to] . . . limited resources, lack of professionalism, and incompetence.”72 Judges are overworked, underpaid, and receive only two months of training upon appointment.73 In 2013, Freedom House reported that Pakistani courts were struggling to process a backlog of more than a million cases, resulting in procedural delays and lengthy pretrial detention periods.74Judges in the lower courts are particularly susceptible to the influences of bribery, intimidation, and political pressure. In the view of Mehmood ul Hassan, a Pakistani lawyer and member of the Sindh Bar Council, corruption was still “rampant” in the lower courts and spreads to higher courts as judges are promoted.75 Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan has expressed similar concerns: “Most of the corruption cases stem in the lower courts where bribery and blackmail are normal routine matters for lawyers as well as clients.”76 The failings of the legal system are compounded by an outdated Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which has remained virtually unchanged since its enactment in 1898, when it was adapted—with only minor revisions—from the British Indian Penal Code. A former civil judge said of the CrPC, “[w]hile living in 2014, we are centuries old in terms of legislations.”77 Ijaz Ahmad, a Pakistani judicial magistrate, has described the code as “prehistoric,” pointing out that Section 46(2) “has given a free hand to the police to summarily kill the accused if wanted under an offence punishable with death or a life term.”78 Furthermore, the CrPC's failure to define the term “accused” permits warrantless arrests on the basis of a “reasonable complaint” or “reasonable suspicion.”79 A “MOST SERIOUS CRIME”: PAKISTAN'S UNLAWFUL USE OF THE DEATH PENALTY 8