PM demands justice system stakeholders find solutions to clear backlog of criminal cases

By Jenique Belgrave

Prime Minister Mia Mottley has served notice on magistrates, judges and lawyers that they must operate differently to reduce the backlog of criminal cases in the courts.

So serious is she about fixing the current deficiencies that she told stakeholders gathered for a symposium on Wednesday that if they could not find solutions during their talks it would be best to put all criminal cases on hold pending further discussions.

Addressing members of the legal fraternity, judiciary, police and other stakeholders at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre during a Criminal Justice Symposium, Mottley suggested expanded roles and power for magistrates, longer working hours for the judiciary, and ending the practice of holding up cases because certain lawyers were unavailable.

She was speaking after Attorney General Dale Marshall said that while hundreds of criminal cases had been cleared with the appointment of more judges, there were still dozens more serious matter outstanding, including 94 murders and 297 firearm offences.

“Let us change and enlarge the role of magistrates with their jurisdiction to take some pressure off the High Court. Let us make sure that we get these 94 murders and these 297 gun cases off of our books,” Mottley said.

“Judge [Christopher] Birch and [Carlisle] Greaves, how long do you want? Two years? 18 months? What will it take to move this backlog off? Registrar, how are we going to get the case management necessary to do it and how are we going to change the rules so that the system that allowed for ease for the 19th and 20th centuries does not dominate and cause log jams in the 21st century? Today is the day to start it.”

Members of the legal and judicial fraternity at today’s Criminal Justice Symposium.

Insisting that all relevant stakeholders must work together to urgently address the matter, Mottley declared: “Attorney General, if you don’t finish today, and you need to suspend all criminal matters next week, do it and come back next week, Tuesday or Wednesday and finish the session. This country is going no further.”

Mottley emphasised to the Barbados Bar Association that an end must come to the practice of cases being delayed because attorneys are handling matters in other courts.

“The Constitution does not say that the accused has a right to the lawyer of his choice. It says that he has the right to a lawyer. And this notion that cases cannot be done because lawyers are in other courts has to stop…,” she said.

“We cannot have the system clogged up because everybody wants a Ferrari. It is what it is. The Ferraris may have to do some franchising in order to ensure that they reach far enough to be able to allow the system to move forward. And why? Who in here wants to reverse the jurisprudence of the last two decades? When I practised criminal law, nobody got bail for murder. Full stop. And, therefore, the police’s job was ten times easier. How many of those 94 people are charged with more than one murder at a different time?”

Additionally, Mottley said, it was not justifiable that while the rest of the country was working eight hours, the courts were not.

“You cannot tell me that a court cannot meet longer because the CAT [Computer-Aided Transcription] reporter cannot work past 12. Come to us and deal with it and let us make sure that you have enough CAT reporters or that they are rotated sufficiently or that we use artificial intelligence…. 

“I don’t know whether a judge writes longhand anymore in the criminal court; I would hope not. The bottom line is we live in a real-time world,” she insisted.

Mottley also advised the police to embrace transcription technology, noting this would make them more efficient in recording accurate statements during their investigations.

Delivering the opening remarks at the symposium, the Attorney General noted that during the COVID-19 period, more than 400 matters were cleared after the number of judges dedicated to the criminal courts increased from two to five. 

However, he lamented that the number of serious matters to be tried remains a serious concern. 

“The statistics of matters awaiting trial received at the end of January from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are instructive. Murders, 94; manslaughter, seven; firearm offences, 287. Of the murder charges, the oldest relates to a homicide committed in 2007. Of the manslaughter charges, the oldest relates to a homicide committed in 2012 and of the firearm offences, believe it or not, the oldest relates to a possession offence in 2003,” Marshall said, noting that it was against that background that the number of judges was increased further, from five to eight.

He said authorities have also increased the number of prosecutors in the DPP’s Office and created the additional post of Deputy Registrar (Criminal Division) who will be responsible for “ensuring the smooth passage of matters through that division”.

Marshall noted, however, that appointing additional judges and other staff will not alone eliminate the delays that “bedevil” the system.

“Moreover, the elimination of delays is but one element of an efficient criminal justice system,” he added.

The Attorney General told those gathered that the challenges must therefore be identified and solutions discussed.

To this end, he called for the creation of a Criminal Justice Sector Committee to monitor the implementation of the initiatives and decisions coming out of the symposium and to get consistent feedback from all stakeholders.

“Part of their responsibility will be to bring the stakeholders to the table, as necessary, and discuss the issues, to settle what is needed to give effect to these decisions and what is needed to enable them to achieve our targets,” the Minister of Legal Affairs added.

Speaking to the media immediately after the opening session of the symposium, attorney-at-law Michael Lashley agreed that the Magistrates Act should be amended to grant more powers to those judicial officers.

“Sexual offences and cases of indecent assault that go before a judge and jury can be heard by a magistrate. Matters under the Firearm Act where a person who is charged with possession of one bullet also wants to plead guilty can be handled by a magistrate,” he stressed. 

With respect to the backlog, he called for legislation outlining that pre-trial disclosures be ready within six months after a person has been charged. 

“We must set timelines, otherwise all this talk about transformation of the criminal justice system, we will be spinning top again all the time,” he asserted. 

jeniquebelgrave@barbadostoday.bb