(Trinidad Guardian) The removal of jury trials is not an infringement on a person’s constitutional rights, says Attorney General Reginald Armour.
Speaking in the Senate yesterday, Armour supported that point by detailing the Privy Council’s 1978 decision on the Jamaican case of Trevor Stone and the Queen.
Armour did so while piloting debate on proposed legislation to expand the ambit of the trial by judge alone system. The bill seeks to amend the Jury and Criminal Procedure Acts.
Armour said it is aimed at reducing the backlog of cases in the criminal justice system by introducing jury trials as the default position for all capital and non-capital indictable matters, “with the option for the accused to apply to the court to be tried by a judge and jury.”
It also proposes reduced jury sizes and lay assessors with special expertise and qualifications within a pool of attorneys to assist judges.
Armour said the pandemic provided challenges and opportunities to implement measures in the criminal justice system that have contributed to improved efficiencies, and to justify their continued use – such as the trial by judge alone law, “…which has tremendous potential to reduce case backlogs.”
From 2019 when the law was proclaimed, to January 31, 2023, he said there were 59 completed judge alone trials and 35 are pending. On an average, there were two requests per month for such trials and 13 requests in January 2023 alone.
Armour said the statistics were “self-recommending” of the success of the 2017 law. But he said statistics from the Judiciary show that the criminal case backlog has continued to increase.
“Data from the Judiciary indicates for the period August 1, 2021 to July 21, 2022, there were 15,122 criminal cases filed at the district courts, including 160 capital matters, 207 criminal cases filed at the High Courts in Port-of- Spain, San Fernando and Tobago and 232 criminal cases filed at the Family and Children Division,” he said.
At July 31, 2022, there were 885 criminal matters pending at the High Courts in PoS, San Fernando and Tobago and 389 criminal matters pending at the Family and Children Division.
“Data from the judiciary also indicated there are 1,119 defendants in jail awaiting trials,” the AG said.
“These statistics are concerning. The Government has implemented significant reforms to address the criminal case backlog and we recognise there’s more that needs to be done on a continuing basis…”
He added that he’ll be returning to Parliament with other measures very shortly.
Stating that the removal of jury trials is not an infringement on a person’s constitutional rights, Armour cited the Jamaican case.
He noted that the Privy Council dismissed the appeal, affirming that a Supreme Court judge, “such as our T&T judges,” sitting without a jury is simply a matter of practice and procedure and does not involve a fundamental right to trial by a judge and jury.
Armour said that settled principle of law equally applies to T&T.
Armour said jury trials require 12 to 18 people to participate and sometimes go up to months with the possibility of disagreement, a hung jury or retrial necessary.
He said the process is lengthy and challenging, as often, people are unwilling to be jurors and a greater percentage of persons present reasons against serving.
Armour noted a “heinous murder” case when he was a young attorney, when finding jurors took months because people were scared. He noted jurors had to be found on the Chaguaramas beach near where the court was located.
He said trial by judge alone reduces waiting time for trials, since jury selection isn’t done. Resources that might be spent on empanelling jurors/alternates are also saved and judges must deliver a verdict before expiry of 40 days.
Saying it provided a more expeditious criminal justice system, Armour added, “Something which I do not think a single woman or man on the streets of this Republic will suggest is not a desired objective.”
The AG indicated that comments were sought on the bill, including from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and Law Association.
