THE EDITOR: This week for the umpteenth time one of our judges was forced to comment on the 'intolerable' delays in the criminal justice system, and the fact that such delays 'serve to undermine public confidence in the efficacy of the administration of justice' ('Judge summons DPP on 2011 murder trial of 6 cops: Explain this delay?' - Trinidad Newsday, December 7).
This latest case concerns an 11-year wait (and counting) for the commencement of the murder trial involving the six police accused. Those six officers have all been denied bail to date. They are presumed innocent.
The genesis of the claim is a complaint by the State's main witness that her security detail has been removed without explanation. The judge has commented on the high cost of maintaining protection for the witness over such a lengthy period of time.
To that cost we must add the cost of housing six inmates at one of our fine prisons, transporting those six prisoners every month to the courthouse and the cost of numerous hearings over the 11-year period (the salaries of all the public servants required to facilitate those hearings - magistrate, judge, DPP lawyer, public defender, police - plus maintenance of court buildings, etc).
What cannot be calculated is the cost to the families of the accused who have been living without their loved ones. Children growing up without a parent. And the cost to the families of the three victims who have been without answers for over a decade.
A recent Forbes magazine article gives some advice on problem-solving. The first step is 'understanding the root cause.' The problem-solver also needs to 'make sure they have the whole story' and 'know what success would look like.' This is all common sense.
The judiciary is ultimately responsible for ensuring that criminal matters are concluded expeditiously.
High Tide Project, a non-profit company which advocates for criminal justice reform, wrote to the judiciary in 2021 in an attempt to find solutions to the delay problem. We indicated that our desire was to bring together the relevant stakeholders (DPP, AG, judiciary) by aiming for a common goal, namely, to have criminal trials completed within one year. We at High Tide Project have called this the 'One Year to Trial Initiative' (1YTT).
In our view, there is substantial benefit to be gained by identifying a common target that is easy to understand and measure. We told the judiciary, 'this is what success would look like' and challenged it to go for it.
But we did not stop there. We also issued a Freedom of Information request to the judiciary seeking information in respect of all capital matters that are currently pending before the court, including the date of charge, the date of committal (if the preliminary inquiry has been completed), the date that the committal notes were sent to the DPP and the date that an indictment was filed. This information would help tell us the whole story about the delay in the completion of these matter
