Gail Alexander
Senior Political Reporter
The pre-trial phase of the criminal justice system is in crisis due to an overall average of 37,933 pending indictable matters at district courts with approximately 8,835 matters joining the list annually, Attorney General Reginald Armour told Parliament yesterday.
As he piloted the Administration of Justice Indictable Proceedings (Amendment) Bill to eliminate preliminary inquiries and “fast-track” cases, he said, “The bill is indeed a significant step in reducing the endemic delay in the criminal trial process. It is undeniable that there have been significant reforms in our justice system over the last 12 years and yet, with the existing system of preliminary inquiries, the reforms are not sufficiently tangible.
“This fast track trial law is intended to expedite the process of criminal trials to move us from the reality we now exist in where on average it takes two to three years to finish a preliminary inquiry while the accused are in jail.”
Armour added, “In some instances, we know of preliminary inquiries that have not yet been completed and are in train for 15 years! That’s why this legislation is being referred to as the fast track trial law because we want to give people their entitlement according to justice to be tried in a speedy, efficient, and fair manner as is possible to bring relief to the accused as well as the victims and families.”
The AG said the statistics show that as of March there were approximately 37,933 pending indictable matters at district courts.
“That means there are 37,933 serious criminal offences, including murders, attempted murders, robberies, rapes, trafficking in person, misbehaviour in public office, and other types of fraud that are currently pending at the pre-trial stage,” he added.
“These numbers represent thousands of persons whose lives have been disrupted and who wait anxiously for some form of progress and/or closure in respect of a criminal trial which has followed them like a shadow for many years.”
To add to this “staggering number”, he said, is the average of 8,835 indictable matters filed annually which now joins the queue.
“This simply cannot be allowed to continue no matter what other considerations are brought to bear,” he said.
More critically, he added, the work of conducting preliminary inquiries is shared between the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the T&T Police Service. The Office of the DPP is tasked with the conduct of the most serious, high-profile matters, the preliminary inquiries of the highest public interest, among the other work to which it is committed.
Currently, the Office of the DPP has under its conduct approximately 2,120 preliminary inquiries.
“For the period 2013-2023, the Office of the DPP has concluded 900 preliminary inquiries, an average of approximately 90 PIs per annum being completed by the Office of the DPP,” Armour said.
He said TTPS statistics for 2013 to 2023 demonstrate the astronomical number of preliminary inquiries, which averages between 4,000 to 6,000 annually with a grand total of 55,037 for the past decade.
“Further, there’s currently an alarming backlog of 11,707 preliminary inquiries before the TTPS. These statistics alone demonstrate the critical need to immediately pass this bill to remove this protracted PI process from our criminal justice system which clearly overburdens law-enforcement resources,” Armour said.
There was no further debate since the House halted at 3.11 pm yesterday, earlier than normal, adjourning to a date to be fixed.
