Crime
Caribbean Attorneys General Discuss Challenges Facing Criminal Justice Systems
Attorney General Dale Marshall emphasizes the importance of an effective and efficient criminal justice system in the Caribbean to maintain public confidence and uphold the rule of law. Leaders gather at the PACE Justice Attorneys General Roundtable to address challenges.
4 min read
Originally published by nationnews.com (opens in new tab)
If the criminal justice systems of the Caribbean are not seen as being “effective and efficient”, not only will this erode the confidence of the public, but the rule of law will be challenged.
That is the view of Attorney General Dale Marshall as he delivered remarks during the opening session of the PACE Justice Attorneys General Roundtable yesterday at United Nations House, Marine Gardens, Hastings, Christ Church.
Attorneys general from Dominica, Guyana, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and St Kitts and Nevis were in attendance, along with Justice Alice Yorke-Soo Hon, president of the Turks and Caicos Court of Appeal.
The roundtable is being hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Other guests included Stephanie Ziebell, deputy resident representative, UNDP, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean; Malgorzata Wasilewska, European Union ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean, CARICOM and CARIFORUM; Justice Emilio Manso, criminal judge, General Counsel of the Judiciary of Spain; and Paula Llewellyn, director of public prosecutions (DPP) of Jamaica.
The backlog in the courts, one which Marshall said was a global problem, was among the topics of discussion. He pointed to Canada, which determined if a case was not heard after 18 months, it was delayed for too long. He said this was a vexing issue for him because Barbados had untried murder cases dating back to 2012.
Accused were taking advantage of these delays to sue the State, he added.
“A common feature now of our judicial system is that all of these individuals, all of these accused, not just in murder law but just running the entire gamut of criminal cases, have been seeking relief under constitutional provisions. And you can imagine how galling it must be for citizens,” Marshall said.
He noted as attorneys general they accepted that all citizens – including the accused – had fundamental rights which had to be protected.
“But my constituent living in St Joseph and yours will have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that a person is charged with one murder, sometimes two murders, or multiple firearm offences, because of a delay in a system that they have no control over, the case potentially gets stayed permanently,” he said. “And on top of that, the individual seeks to get damages.
Plea bargaining
“So the State is now taking taxpayers’ money to compensate a person for delaying a trial, and this is not just my experience. I know it is your experience.
