THE CONVICTIONS ARE WHAT MATTER

May 17, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

A murder or a robbery is not solved until there is a conviction by the courts. It is therefore misleading to claim that 70% of recent murders have been solved by the police. Until such time as persons are convicted by the High Court for murder, it would be misleading to claim that seven out of every ten murders which took place recently have been solved.

The police have been making arrests following robberies and murders. Those arrested are suspected until charged. They are presumed innocent until convicted. This is how the law operates.
The recent spate of arrests cannot, at this stage, point in the direction of better police investigation. It cannot, because the evidence on which the arrests and charges have been laid has not yet been fully tested in a court of law.
There are concerns about the high number of confessions. There is a need for an audit of recent police investigations to satisfy the public that these confessions have been freely obtained. But even if they have been, the high incidence of confessions is, as it was in the past, a source of great concern to those who are interested in preserving the rule of law.
There may be a legitimate explanation for the large number of speedy arrests and the laying of charges by the police. It may have nothing to do with the police. It may have everything to do with the fact that the public feels more inclined now to support the police in their investigations now that a new government is in place. Or it could be some other reason?
The management of the Guyana Police Force should not be satisfied with the explanation that better investigative work is being done. It should try to confirm that premise so as to demonstrate to the public at large that it is doing its work better.
If it can prove beyond reasonable doubt to the public that there is improved police investigation of robberies and murders, this would further boost public confidence in the Guyana Police Force and allow it to receive even more cooperation from the public.
The real test, of course, will be the number of successful prosecutions that are had in the courts. It is left to be seen how many of the alleged confession statements are going to stand up to the scrutiny of the courts, including cross examination.
There was a time when there was the disturbing practice of persons being charged with murder, but having the prosecution accept a lesser charge of manslaughter. There was muted criticism of this trend, even though it ought to have become a major source of worry for the criminal justice system. It was happening all too regularly for comfort.
There was this one time in the distant past (and not in Guyana) when a man was charged with murder and was being tried before a jury. For some inexplicable reason as the trial approached its end, the defence decided that it wanted to cut a deal and accept a charge of manslaughter.
The prosecution did, and the man pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and was sentenced to ten years in prison. As it turned out, the jury up to that point was convinced that the man was not guilty of murder and if the case had been closed, they would have freed him.
The public will be looking on to see how many of the murder charges that have been recently laid will boil down to manslaughter charges. This will indicate how strong the prosecutors’ cases are.
The recent cases for murder will take years to be heard in our courts. The system of paper committals has been successfully challenged, with the result that efforts to speed-up trials have reached a hump in the road.
After the prison riots we heard a lot of talk about additional magistrates being assigned to hear cases. We heard about night court being implemented. But we have seen little action on these fronts. It seems as if the new government is all talk and little action. If this trend continues it matters not how many arrests are made, Guyana will continue to have a dysfunctional criminal justice system.

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THE CONVICTIONS ARE WHAT MATTER

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