SSP Diaries | Our judicial process is feeding crime

As I understand it, the process of prosecuting an offence involves a few steps. First, the police or a citizen realises that an offence has occurred, the offender is apprehended and investigated, charges are preferred, the person is brought before the courts, if necessary, and the matter is tried at the appropriate level(s). If found guilty, the accused receives punishment in keeping with the appropriate laws, which is meant to create a deterrent and assist in the rehabilitation of that individual. My account here is abbreviated.

The police are at the front end of this chain of events and often take the brunt of the blame for the high crime rates being experienced throughout Jamaica. The fact that they have improved tremendously over the years and are, in effect, bringing more offenders before the courts today than they have done in their previous history, is of no real consequence when certain segments of the society are looking for scapegoats. Some reading this will counter by saying that the population has increased over time, so there are more people committing themselves, amid several other reasons, all geared to downplay the improvements being displayed by the frontline law enforcement. Where is our court system in all of this?

I heard recently that our courts are short of over a 100 judges. If this is incorrect, then it could be that what we need is that number to deal with the backlog of cases and move forward in a timely manner. Although I have a hard time trying to fathom how we could have allowed such a deficit in our deterrent strategy to develop, one is not surprised. The impact, however, is likely to be catastrophic for law-abiding citizens in 10years or less, if not addressed immediately. Currently, it is the norm for serious and major crimes reaching the trial stage to be postponed 18 to 24 months or more down the road. In many of these cases, the accused charged for murder are still being allowed bail. The ease with which postponements are obtained in court does not pressure the prosecutors or the defence to ensure cases are properly prepared. Clients are being held to ransom, so to speak, as they must pay for their attorney’s appearances, while the court administrators are not necessarily perturbed, as their salaries are assured. Bankruptcy stares many in the face if they are not careful.

HARROWING AND DEPRESSING

The aggrieved have harrowing and depressing experiences; they can see no justice for themselves or their loved ones down the road. Witnesses in our current system must put their lives on hold to try and facilitate the justice system, and they do so at great risk to themselves and families, as the longer cases are delayed, the greater the likelihood of they or their families being harmed by those intent on making sure they do not testify. Many witnesses migrate or simply do not respond to set trial dates. The State is displaying an inability to act in a timely manner; justice delayed is justice denied. This is likely to herald a return of vigilante justice; people are becoming less accommodating of the country’s inability to provide the required protections through legal means. The courts will soon become the new scapegoats to bear the brunt of people’s frustrations with the inadequacy of the justice system. Then, there are those languishing in jail, awaiting trial for unacceptable lengths of time, held at taxpayers’ expense, but who, because of their circumstance, cannot even be included in rehabilitative programmes.

The process of dispensing justice through the courts in Jamaica is now caught in a time warp. It neither moves forward nor backward, it is failing to provide a deterrent to crime, it is making better criminals out of offenders, and rehabilitation is a phenomenon confined to the proverbial back burner. The courts are indirectly or directly being factored as a variable in our high crime rates. Let the powers that be understand that the courts have a critical part to play in the fight against crime. What stares us in the face now is unacceptable in any democracy, and begs the immediate attention of our government together with all well-thinking and law-abiding citizens. Our judicial system needs to be fixed now, failing which we shall surely suffer the consequences.

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