Attorney General Anil Nandlall has announced a plan to improve prosecution in the magistracy through the recruitment and training of persons who have law degrees but have not yet completed law school.
Nandlall revealed the plan yesterday while giving remarks at a ceremony for the handing over of a Court Superintendent Office at the Brickdam Police Station with associated furnishings, equipment and law books as part of the Inter-American Development Bank-funded Support for the Criminal Justice System (SCJS) programme.
He noted that with some exceptions, since independence all criminal offences being tried in the Magistrates’ Courts have been invariably prosecuted by police ranks, who undergo certain limited training in the area of prosecution.
He further observed that despite their limited training and lack of legal education, they have acquitted themselves reasonably well against the most formidable of defence counsel. At the same time, he said no one can dispute that because of the appreciable inequality, there have been multiple miscarriages of justice, simply because of defence counsel’s superior knowledge and training in the law. As a result, he contended that the victims of crime, the state and the public interest have suffered decades of grievous injustice.
“It is the state’s duty, though belated, to address this deficiency if true justice it to be achieved in our criminal justice system,” Nandlall said as he explained his plan.
He pointed out that there are dozens of persons in Guyana, especially young persons, who have completed the local Bachelors of Laws Degree programme but have not proceeded to one of the law schools in the region. He said some are here and are at home unemployed. “I have begun a process of creating a database of these persons and they will be soon contacted to join a new initiative, which will see a collaboration between the Guyana Police Force and the Director of Public Prosecutions, whereby after completing a one-year accredited prosecutorial training course, they will be hired as prosecutors and will join police prosecutors in the Magistrates’ Court right across the length and breadth of our country,” he explained.
Nandlall argued that these recruits would im-prove the quality of prosecutions in the Magistrates’ Courts, while at the same time providing a job and career opportunity for many of graduates of law who are currently unemployed.
He lamented that victims of crime in many cases feel that the ordeal which they have to endure in the court because of the lack of proper legal representation is sometimes worse than the crime itself.
“What I plan to implement, obviously, is far from what is required. But, I think it will go a far way in alleviating the current travesty,” he added.
As it relates to training of the new recruits, he said discussions have already begun for the implementation of a one-year accredited prosecutorial training programme at the University of Guyana with the Head of the Department of Law and the Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Law. He said over the next few weeks, these discussions will intensify and will hopefully be concluded.
Meanwhile, Nandlall noted that the strengthening of the “prosecutorial arm” of the state through the enhancement of the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as well as the Prosecutor’s Office of the Guyana Police Force is one of the components of the SCJS programme, which is aimed at reducing the pri-son population by addressing the overreliance of the criminal justice system on custodial sentences, and the overuse of pre-trial detention.
He added that the programme has lent support to the Office of the DPP and the Guyana Police Force, both at Brickdam and at New Amsterdam, Berbice. He said the programme supported civil works at Brickdam, which commenced in January, and concluded in June, 2020. The works included the provision of construction services for its rehabilitation, electrical installation, plumbing installation and painting. Similarly, he said the programme also support the rehabilitation of the Prosecutor’s Office at Berbice along with the provision of electrical, plumbing and painting services. This activity commenced in July, and was recently completed.
Additionally, Nandlall said the programme supplied electrical equipment, computer hardware and accessories, required law books, cubicles and accessories, office equipment and furnishings for the Court Superintendent Office at Brickdam.
In particular, he said the programme provided prosecutors with 22 laptops and three desktop computers, five printers, 26 staff cubicles with workstations, bookshelves, law books and reports, televisions, and a refrigerator, among other things. “The provision of the aforementioned equipment and requisite tools will contribute to better representation, greater efficiency and effectiveness in disposing of cases and reduction in the need for adjournments.
He further said that the Chambers of the DPP has also acquired support to bolster provision of its services. He cited the acquisition of 10 desktop computers, five laptops, 10 printers, four photocopiers, and a digital camera, among other things.
“The Ministry of Legal Affairs is proud to be associated with this initiative and wishes to reiterate its commitment to continually work through the SCJS programme to achieve the reduction of the overcrowding conditions of our prison system,” he added.
