Delroy ChuckTHE DELIVERY of justice in Jamaica has gone awry, awfully awry. When the people no longer have trust and confidence in the capability of the police to deal with the escalating problem of crime, or the Office of the DPP to prosecute all cases in a vigorous and forthright manner, or depend on the court system to adjudicate cases on a timely basis, we are approaching a point in which the rule of law will be discarded.
When a state consistently fails to deliver justice, it is a failed state. The cry for justice resonates even louder today than ever before. 'We want justice' is now the constant wail everywhere. But, can the citizens rely on the agencies of the state to deliver justice? Ask the residents in most of the inner city communities if they look to the criminal justice system for redress or for wrongdoers to get their just deserts? When things go wrong, they bear the burden and move on.
Alternatively, it is to the area dons and gunmen that these communities turn for protection and justice even while lamenting that gunmen threaten the peace and order of their communities. The alarming spate of killings since the start of the year is a matter of grave concern. And even though we are not aware of the overriding motives behind the killings, I venture to assert that many killings are caused from revenge, retaliation and reprisals, which can easily be attributed to the failure of the criminal justice system to punish wrongdoers speedily or at all.
'SUMMARY JUSTICE'
At the same time, when the security forces, or the agents of the state, mete out 'summary justice' to alleged gunmen and wrongdoers, they send the wrong signals that the rule of law or due process need not be respected. If the security forces can take the law into their own hands, and get support from elements in the society, then why can't the area leaders or the gunmen exact similar 'summary justice'?
The country is now awakening to another spectacle, which cries out for clarification and resolution. Alleged drug barons are taken into custody and held for 60 days while we await a foreign country to provide the evidence for extradition. The due process of law has never been so threatened. Surely, before the men are taken into custody, the evidence should be made available, instead of having to wait 60 days for it. Could we ask the USA to take one of its citizens into custody until we provide the evidence? It is this mindless and dangerous approach to law enforcement that definitely brings our justice system into further disrepute.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Kent Pantry Q.C. would well spend time and effort to clean up his department in the pursuit of justice, instead of issuing veil threats to the media. His tenure has not been a salutary one. To be sure, his working relationship with his staff is tense, acrimonious and simply not conducive to the effective prosecution of cases. When human rights organisations and the media question his rulings, they have a right to do so and he should heed their criticisms. The Janice Allen's case is merely the last straw and a telling blow to the process of justice emanating from the office of the DPP. The public, and especially families of victims, are deeply concerned with the prolonged delays in rulings on alleged police shootings and killings from the DPP's office. At the present time, the public has lost faith in his office.
GREATER CONCERN
Of even greater concern, however, is the failure of the court system to deal with cases speedily, which means many innocent persons are held without trial. There is a mounting backlog that threatens to bring the whole court system to a grinding halt. Things are not getting better, they are getting worse. In spite of new systems, more courts and additional resources, it still takes forever to have disputes resolved within a reasonable time. Nowadays, the record shows that the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court is unable to dispose of more than 40 per cent of the cases before it annually. This is a shocking state of affairs, as it means over 300 accused persons have their trials traversed from term to term, while many are held on remand in dirty and stinking jails.
Sadly, when a government cannot be relied on for justice, or for the protection and security of its citizens or, quite simply, for good governance, it is contributing to the suffering of the people and to a failed state. Right now, poor people will be deprived of legal representation from the failure of the government to fund the Legal Aid System adequately. Our justice system is in distress and it is the people, mainly poor people, who bear the brunt of the distress.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by e-mail at Delchuck@Hotmail.Com.
