An argument for quick and swift reform of the current judicial system

May 04, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,

I had the personal opportunity to be involved with the judicial system in Guyana.

I have visited the courts on numerous occasions and have witnessed many areas where the system and persons representing it have done exceedingly well with the tools that have been provided to them.

However, I have also witnessed its defects. I was deeply disturbed to see many things that in my naïve mind feel can be avoided and fixed at the lowest cost to the benefit of the clients, the accused criminals, the lawyers, magistrates and the general public at large. First let me start with the disrespect handed out to the magistrates by the general public and some attorneys. This include cross talking in chambers, lateness, inappropriate dress codes, lack of protection for the legal team to include magistrates, absence of police officers in court, unprepared DPP and finally a system that can be improved if someone just took a minute to understand the long term consequences of a failing system.

In specific terms I noted the following issues:

My observations were that the DDP’s case load is more than the police assigned are physically capable of handling. In many cases I noticed the DPP during proceedings trying to ascertain what the case is about and the defending attorney applying all legal skills to make its case.

This I feel needs urgent attention, without knowing the legal system in Guyana I suggest that informing clients of the tremendous work load, lack of DDP staff and giving information on their right or options in accessing defence at a cost to them may be an option that some victims may choose. Secondly, I suggest that severe consequences must be implemented for persons who repeatedly miss court dates, which further clog the system and should be fined a small fee for missed dates.

These missed dates result in a cost to the state. Once customers understand that the result of an overwhelmed DPP can be the cross between a well presented prosecution which may result in winning a legal case versus an accused going free for a crime that might have been committed, they are more likely to seek their own attorneys at their own expense.

It would be interesting to determine the percentage of cases won by the DDP verses the defending attorneys, based on my very short observation on a limited number of cases. I would argue that at least 90-95% of the cases are won by the defending attorneys when the cases are being prosecuted by a police assigned DPP. This is not to say that the majority of police personnel serving as prosecutors are not qualified. What I am saying is that I believe one of the major reasons for them being ill prepared is due to a tremendous case load, which prevents them from adequately doing their home work and representing the virtual complainant.

Safety and security should be of paramount concerns to the courts and persons who conduct business within the consignments of the court. The magistrate courts in the light of increased crime and or type of serious crimes should be manned by armed guards or armed police and persons must be subjected to random searches at a minimum; no type of weapons should be allowed, largely displayed signs should be posted to this effect around the court house; trespassing signs should also be posted with penalties for violators.

Due to limited space and security concerns the courts should have enforced limits to the amount of persons in this area. Persons just seem to be browsing through the

court area with no cause. I have noted that in a great majority of cases called by the magistrate the police personnel were not present when called upon and when they are present they do not appear to have a clue as to their roles, they were often time briefed by the DPP on what they needed to do just prior to the case.

In addition, they lack all documentation necessary to adequately prosecute the

cases, items such as photos, number or types of material evidence in the police custody and statements in folders to be used by DPP. Thirdly they arrive late to the court.

There was lots of cross talk by attorneys, and persons in the chambers at one point while sitting in court. I thought that the persons in the court room were jurors as the defence attorneys often turned their defence towards this group rather than the magistrate, which leaves me to question whether since there was no jurors and the majority persons present had no interest in that particular case, that lawyers use this opportunity to posture for future clients.

Another earth-shattering issue that I am very concerned about is the verbal threats belted out to the legal team by the offenders. It appears that it becomes a comedy show I could just imagine how the persons being threatened feels when the show is all over. In many instances I do not believe that persons are evaluated to determine their mental state and their ability to make a threat real. Verbal threats are serious threats against a person human and civil rights and persons should be appropriately cautioned especially when a threat is made against, the legal team, police officer, accused or victim in the presence of law enforcement representatives.

I was in the court when a mother, whose child was sexually abused was threaten with death by the accused as he left the court room to remand because the mother did not drop the charges according to the accuser. I was astonished that no one did anything to include the police. These types of threats are often perceived as idle chatter. However, one can argue, this is of grave is concern to victims. The issue of abuse in our society and how one safety is impacted when they are afraid to pursue justice is important and adequately necessary when bringing perpetrators to Justice.

The bigger picture is the affects of pedophiles that are left to prey on young children repeatedly and repeat criminal offenders who may be roaming the communities at will. I can’t help but ponder why!

Finally, l was baffled on the length of time that cases take to be resolved: I was perplexed how an accused was expected to appear in court after four years, of committing a crime that had not been resolved. I sat and wondered how preserved was the evidence, if available and where were the witnesses. That was most mind-boggling; what I did notice in this situation was that the persons also had a similar, more recent matter in another court. It appears that there are no significant incentives for a criminal to change their behaviour, when there are no swift and deliberate consequences for their criminal behaviour.

In order to maximize the impact of efforts to boost public confidence, there seems to be a strong argument for quick and swift reform of the current system. These should include local stakeholders, in the criminal justice system, especially police and prosecutors. This is an urgent call to restore the system in which persons understand consequence for dysfunctional/deviant behaviour that does not follow societal norms.

Should this system be allowed to continue on the train to nowhere I would venture to say in the next 10-20 years, the current leaders whose average ages range from 50-60 years old would have to live as elders in a society that provides no security and respect to their contribution and their right not to be victimized; they would along with the children will fall prey to the results of a failed system, as our youths continue to drift into a life of truancy and petty crime.

Dawn C. Stewart