On Saturday, June 14, I was a panellist at a Symposium held at UWI in honour of the late Dana Saroop Seetahal SC. It was organised by The Foundation for Politics and Leadership and the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (UWI) and had as its theme Re-engineering the Criminal Justice System.
In his opening address, Sir Dennis Byron, President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, rightly reminded us that “crime flourishes when the environment is conducive to people behaving in a certain way.”
The four panels were:
The Justice System – Procedural Stumbling Blocks. Panellists were: Chief Justice Ivor Archie, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, DPP Roger Gaspard, and Gilbert Peterson SC.
The Underlying Causes of Crime – Panellists were: Prof Ramesh Deosaran, Prof Gerard Hutchinson, Michael Bradshaw and Renee Cummings.
A Forensic Approach to Crime Fighting – Panellists were: Moira Mac Daid, Ag Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams, Sophia Chote SC, and Ravi Rajcoomar.
Restorative Justice: Closing the Revolving Door – Panellists were: Hazel Thompson-Ahye, Wayne Chance, Commissioner of Prisons Conrad Barrow, and me – Leela Ramdeen.
The Symposium ended with A Call to Action by Senator Timothy Hamel-Smith. He emphasised the point that many persons had focused on the problems that exist. He proposes to organise another event to focus more on solutions. It was acknowledged that there is no quick fix and that we need a multi-disciplinary/cross sector approach if we are to restore public confidence in the Criminal Justice System (CJS).
The DPP expressed the view that we cannot just adopt ideas from other jurisdictions and seek to implement them here without examining the need for supportive structures in our own country if such ideas are to succeed. For example, in the case of plea-bargaining, the DPP suggests that with the low detection rate in T&T (about 10% for homicide cases), and often the lack of clear evidence available, some of those charged may not be willing to “cop a plea” in our jurisdiction.
Most speakers saw the need for each citizen to take responsibility for looking in the mirror and reflecting on ways in which we are contributing to the crime situation; and to ask ourselves what we can do to reduce crime. Discussions focused, inter alia, on the need to:
- champion morals and values in society;
- promote more effective governance, accountability and transparency;
- deal with corruption/white collar crime at all levels;
- address the deficiencies in the CJS – such as introducing a National Prosecuting Service to relieve the police from this task so that they can focus on policing, also tackle the unacceptable conditions in prisons, lengthy delays in processing cases, unreasonable time spent on Remand by some, and huge backlogs in Magistrates’ Courts;
- promote community policing and develop a more effective and honest Police Service – getting rid of “rogue cops”;
- invite persons with specialised skills to enter the Police Service at a senior level;
- abolish jury trials – but not without an opportunity for the public to have their say on this matter;
- abolish Preliminary Enquiries;
- consider the benefits of Plea Bargaining. (The AG said that Pamela Elder SC is continuing work on this issue begun by Dana Seetahal SC.);
- front-load cases to save court time;
- address the relationship between deficits in our education system and crime;
- develop a technologically-driven CJS;
- introduce robust Case Management;
- address issues relating to the rules of evidence, e.g. hearsay and DNA and Fingerprint Law;
- consider sentencing options to promote restoration rather than retribution;
- address the economic dimension relating to the CJS, such as poverty which, as Prof Deosaran said, can provide fruitful soil for criminal activity, gangs and gang violence;
- protect children from the risk factors related to crime;
- institute parenting programmes; and
- address issues relating to juvenile justice reform.
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As I said in my presentation, we all have a vision of a safer, just and peaceful society, a society in which the rule of law prevails and in which there are conditions that will enable each person to realise his/her potential. To avoid the risk of degenerating into anarchy, we must face the challenge of moving from vision/paper policies to action. T&T’s Inspector of Prisons, Daniel Khan, says 74% of our people re-offend within 3–5 years of leaving prison. Clearly what we are doing is not people-centred enough. The revolving door keeps leading many former inmates back into prison. The challenge is to prevent persons going through the door in the first place. As the UNDP 2012 report Human Development and the Shift to Better Citizen Security states, we must get a better balance between legitimate law enforcement and preventive measures.
I end with the words I quoted at the beginning of my presentation: “I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons” (Blessed John Henry Newman). As Pope Francis said: “We are guardians for each other.” Let us respond to God’s call to reach out to the least of those among us.
