AG: Let’s work together to fight cross-border crime

Close regional collaboration is essential as Barbados moves to strengthen its criminal justice framework, particularly in the areas of witness protection and anti-gang legislation, Attorney General Dale Marshall told regional counterparts on Thursday.

As fellow law officers from across the Caribbean gathered at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre to discuss solutions to shared crime challenges, Marshall noted that the island has already received benefits from regional engagement, pointing to recent legislative reforms that were shaped by discussions at similar forums.

“For too many years we have approached our challenges in an insular and siloed way, when in truth and in fact, because of the commonality of our challenges, we really ought to be pooling our efforts,” said Marshall in brief remarks at the opening of the two-day Pace Justice Second Attorneys-General Roundtable. 

He suggested that Caribbean territories do not need to “reinvent the wheel” when workable legislative models already exist within the region.

“We should be pooling our efforts, whether in terms of intellect, processes or institutions, to find solutions,” he added.

Marshall highlighted Barbados’ Witness Protection Act, passed last year, as an example of how regional cooperation has informed local reform.

“When we were looking at our witness protection legislation, Barbados found it extraordinarily beneficial to be able to look at the Jamaica model and the St Vincent model,” he said.

Similarly, he noted that the island’s work on gang legislation has drawn heavily on the experiences of neighbouring states.

“When we talked about gang legislation, we looked at the Jamaica model… in other areas we’ve looked at the Trinidad model,” Marshall explained, adding that these precedents helped policymakers avoid costly trial-and-error approaches.

He said the roundtable setting provides a valuable space for attorneys general to coordinate responses to crime that increasingly crosses borders.

“For no other reason than the fact that we are able to draw from the precedent set by other territories, it makes perfect sense for us to gather in these places so as to be able to chart our way forward,” he said.

Marshall also pointed to previous roundtable discussions that have already resulted in concrete legal changes in Barbados.

“Last year we talked about plea-bargaining legislation; Barbados now has plea-bargaining legislation,” he said. “We also spoke about judge-alone trials; Barbados now has judge-alone trial legislation.”

While noting that defendants must opt in to judge-alone trials, Marshall said the option has already been used in significant cases and has helped to modernise the justice system.

Looking ahead to the current meeting, the AG said the focus on witness protection and gang legislation could not be more timely.

“This occasion, we will be looking at witness protection and gang legislation, both of which are hot-button issues for Barbados,” he said. “I really look forward to our engagement over the next two days, especially in the area of witness protection.”