The work examined the relationship found to exist between awaiting trial among suspected infractors of the law and legal representation conundrum for indigent accused persons in Cross River State- Nigeria. In order to achieve this purpose, a null hypothesis was formulated to guide the research. To test the hypothesis, a questionnaire entitled “Awaiting Trial Among suspected persons (ATAP) and Lack of Legal Representation (LLR) scale. The questionnaire was administered on four hundred and ten (410) awaiting trial respondents in three (3) purposively selected prisons (OGOJA, AFOKANG AND IKOM PRISONS) in the state. The research design was survey. The split-half reliability method was adopted in determining the reliability estimate of the instrument. The hypothesis was tested at .05 level of significance while Pearson product moment correlation technique was the statistical tool used for analysis. Findings were that significant relationship exists between awaiting trial among suspected criminal prison and legal representation for the indigent accused persons in prison custody. Based on these findings, the researchers recommended that the indigent accused persons awaiting trial should be provided with lawyers to represent them.
Keywords: Awaiting Trial, Cross River State, Legal Representation, Nigeria, Suspected Criminal Persons
