Criminal justice system improvement project to kick-off next month

Sep 15, 2015 News

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…Magistrates, prosecutors and investigators up for training

In direct response to rate of prosecutions and the challenges plaguing the judiciary, representatives of a Canada-based non governmental organisation, Justice Education Society (JES), are pushing to kick off a project next month, to improve the local justice system from the ground up.

Over the years, numerous cases were thrown out of court because evidence may have been tampered with or there may be insufficient evidence, among other probable causes. It is the hope of the JES to assist in improving the current system from the point of investigation of a crime to the point of the delivery of justice at the court system.
Through the JES training, which will be provided to officials in the justice system, including law enforcement, the judiciary and the courts, it is expected to assist in this aspect to ensure justice is served.
Weeks away from the start date, a team from the JES, headed by its International Programmes Manager, Evelyn Neaman, has been in discussion with officials from the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to promote the justice reform project.
The JES project is a grant initiative funded by the Canadian Government to the tune of CAN$750,000. It will be implemented by the British Colombia-based non-governmental organisation.
The JES works with judiciaries to strengthen systems along the continuum from what is done upon arrival at the crime scene and how investigations are done by police, to how the cases are prosecuted by the prosecutors and how the judges and magistrates hear the case and render the verdicts.
Yesterday, the team sat with Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Basil Williams, at his Carmichael Street, Georgetown office to discuss the project which has been dubbed “Strengthening the Guyanese Criminal Justice System (SGCJS)”.
Also present were representatives from the Canadian High Commission and State Counsel from the AG Chambers.
Minister Williams said that they discussed components of Crime Scene Investigations and investigation by police for the purposes of taking evidence for successful prosecution to the Courts.
He highlighted that training must be given to magistrates and state prosecutors along with police prosecutors as part of the entire process.
According to the Attorney General, training of magistrates, state and police prosecutors are among areas that will see improvement through the implementation of the project.
“We have identified with the components in the programme that is being administered by the JES out of British Columbia, Canada. We believe it is very relevant here because you know the normal complaints is that lawyers take advantage of the police prosecutors and if lawyers happen to win the case in the assizes against the state prosecutors they then blame the police investigations,” he remarked.
According to Williams, once successfully implemented the project would ensure that there would be a substantial diminution in the type of claims that are being made in securing successful prosecutions in the courts.
Also speaking to the media, the JES’s International Programs Manager indicated that activities can commence as early as next month, providing the training supplies and equipment arrive in time.
The project is being launched this week by way of a series of meetings, with senior officials of the Guyana Police Force, Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutors (DPP), said Neaman.
“The scope of the activities include working with the police on crime scene protection and working with investigators on investigations; working with the DPP on helping the police prosecutors, and working with the Magistrates’ courts,” expressed Neaman.
She said it will be a two-year project, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canada, through their Anti-Crime Programme. According to Neaman, they have done similar projects in Central America and Ethiopia.
The project will start in Georgetown. “What we want to ensure is that we almost touch all the people who are in the police, the Prosecution and the Magistrates in Georgetown. We feel that if we can build a core of very good leaders then it could be replicated in other areas,” expressed Neaman.
Asked why they had chosen to bring the project to Guyana, Neaman said it was through the recommendations of the former Canadian High Commissioner, Dr. Nicole Giles, who is also the former Director of the Anti-Crime Programme in Ottawa, Canada.
“She (Dr. Giles) was in Guyana and realised that security was a big issue for the Guyanese people and she felt that the kind of work that we do and our approach would be very helpful here,” expressed the NGO’s representative.
Leeman told members of the media too that they will be focusing on producing a documentary to share with the communities across Guyana to help the people understand exactly what the project entails. The documentary, she said, will be one step in helping to build public confidence in the local justice system.
To this end, she expressed hope that the media could disseminate information as the project gains momentum.
In January this year, a Provincial Court Judge from British Colombia, Justice Michael Hicks and Executive Director of JES Rick Craig visited Guyana and held a seminar with members of the justice system. The sessions were aimed at strengthening Guyana’s justice system to respond to the challenges that are emerging as a result of development, technology and judicial reform.
It was there that both sides designed the justice improvement project now being rolled out.
Guyana will, in fact, be benefitting from two Canada-funded multi-million-dollar Regional Justice Programmes.
Through the JES CAN$750,000 project, they will be looking at providing training in legislative drafting, the training of judges and lawyers and addressing the question of how the courts are administered. Part of the grant will be spent on addressing undue delays and backlog of cases.
The other initiative is titled “Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean,” (IMPACT Justice) and is aimed at enhancing access to justice in the Caribbean. This initiative, which will cost approximately CAN$19.8M, will be implemented by the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill.
Both initiatives are expected to run until 2019.

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