State Prosecutors benefit from training geared towards sharpening courtroom tactic

Apr 13, 2018 News

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For three days, Attorneys and Police Prosecutors attached to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, (DPP) will be exposed to a number of trial advocacy techniques geared towards sharpening their tactic in the Courtroom.
This will be facilitated through an advance trial advocacy workshop conducted by United States National Center for State Courts (NCSC) in collaboration with the Office of the DPP in Guyana.
About 15 officers from the DPP Chambers are set to benefit from the training sessions held at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston.
During the sessions, participants will be exposed to critical areas of trial advocacy training including direct examination, cross examination, opening statement and closing argument techniques.
Additionally, instructors are expected to conduct lectures on strategic tools for persuasion, physical presentation, controlling difficult witnesses, introducing forensic evidence, and rhetorical devices.
The training will be facilitated by a faculty of International legal experts including Project Director for the NCSC, Jo Ann Richardson and Ms. Doris Chang.
During her remarks, Richardson told those at the opening ceremony including Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, Chief Justice Roxane George (S.C)and Attorney General Basil Williams (S.C), that the workshop is designed to help improve the participant’s trial technique through the “learning by doing” approach.
She explained that the experience will involve teaching through joint plenary sessions alternating with hands-on workshops in a simulated courtroom.
In his address, the Attorney General noted that there is need for such training particularly in relatively new areas of prosecution such as money laundering and financial crimes.
“In the direction which the world is going, the prosecution must possess the requisite skills to prosecute crimes such as fraud, corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing.”
Outlining the challenging with the introduction of new laws, the Attorney General said that there will also be need for training in the area of Cybercrime.
“In the age of technology, our prosecutions must be able to manage cybercrimes and electronic evidence. It is my hope that this training will break new ground for our State Prosecutors especially as this government seeks to combat corruption…”
Chief Justice Roxane George emphasized the need for continued education in the area of legal practice.
“When we were in law school, we were told that the law requires continued education. It didn’t stop when we got our degrees and it didn’t stop when we got with our LEC; our certificate for practice….This workshop is evidence of that necessity for continuing education and training and learning in the law.”
The Chief Justice noted that effective prosecution is not only pivotal to justice system but it’s a human rights issue.
“It speaks to the rights of victims and survivors and the rights of the accused. You know, how important your roles as administers of justice and as prosecutors,” she added.
In her remarks, DDP Shalimar Ali Hack emphasized the need for more training in various areas of the law, particularly as it relates to money laundering and other financial crimes.
She noted that trial advocacy is a skill, which takes much learning to improve.
She expressed confidence that by the end of the sessions her team will acquire the information needed to sharpen their courtroom advocacy skills.
“I am sure that we each will benefit from this learning experience and together this will build the capacity of the prosecution in Guyana.”
The NSCS has a multi-staged training programme that addresses effective tools for investigation of cases; best practices in case management; preparation of files to ensure successful prosecution; and improved trial advocacy skills for police prosecutors.
The group has conducted similar workshops with State Prosecutors from parts of the Region including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Bahamas and various parts of the Eastern Caribbean.
By working with police prosecutors and investigators through a focused country-by-country series of training workshops, and with ongoing advanced trial advocacy programmes for prosecutors’ offices, NCSC and its partners are developing a uniform capacity to investigate crimes and properly prepare and organize case files for use in evidence-based trials across the region.
The programme is funded by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs through hosted as part of NCSC’s ongoing work under the Justice Sector Assistance to the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative Program (CBSI), funded by the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. (Rehanna Ramsay)

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