The Supreme Court located in Luanda is the summit of all judicial system consisting of criminal, civil law and military law courts. The Constitution guarantees independence of the judicial power bodies.
The Supreme Court also functions in a normal manner, while keeping its work at a distance from the activities of political authorities. Until now, the Supreme Court's decisions have never caused public disputes and polemics deserving special attention. Recently the social environment around the judges’ activities was improved, the judicial system got a higher status, and the judges’ salaries were raised. These decisions were unanimously supported by the population and all state power institutions.
The judicial system is experiencing difficulties brought about by an excessive concentration of population in Luanda province, which both intensifies the crime growth rate and leads to increase in the number of criminally persecuted people. As a result, the jails are constantly overcrowded, and the courts fail to cope with the huge amount of work. In spite of all this, the courts do their best to alleviate the situation caused by the above conditions, while the Government is considering possibilities to improve the functioning and conditions of some jails in Luanda province through transferring a part of prisoners from Luanda to provincial penitentiary institutions.