Dear Editor,
During the last sitting of the Parliament, Bill 19 of 2023 was presented and approved. This Bill implements a plea bargaining process into the Judicial System of the country. The Chambers of the Attorney General did a very extensive job in their preparation of the Bill via the analysis of the existing legislation in the U.S. and UK. The motivation for the new Bill was to reduce the backlog in the court system with the added benefit of cost savings. However, for the judicial system to remain effective the root cause of the backlog must be addressed.
In addition, during the discussion in Parliament Member of Parliament Mr. Ramjattan brought to house’s attention some inherent risks that exist in the legislation. These risks were the shifting in the category of the offence to a lower charge to accommodate a lighter sentence in order to bypass the minimum sentence assigned to the initial charge, the risk of coercion during the plea bargaining process, and the risk of sloppy police work in support of the search for evidence and ultimately justice in the case in question. The Attorney General clearly addressed two of the three concerns by way of included sections of the Bill, but the risk continues to exist as a result of minimum sentence restrictions for a given category of crime. The burden of evidence changes with the crime and the minimum sentence restrictions create an incentive for lack of a thorough investigative process if plea bargaining occurs.
In order to prevent this risk from occurring after the new legislation is implemented, CRG suggests that the allowance of a minimum sentence adjustment be allowed for the initial charge when plea bargaining is used without a reclassification of the crime. The burden of proof will remain the same and the criminal statistics used for future legislation will not be misleading. Thus preventing the flaw of the plea bargaining process in the U.S. Judicial System from reoccurring in that of our Nation’s. Preventing expediency and cost savings from replacing our thorough pursuit of Justice.
As for the root cause of the backlog, we must ensure that our Nation’s Justice System works efficiently and effectively to prevent such a backlog from occurring. Thus minimizing the need for a plea bargaining process. Understanding why the backlog is occurring should be the priority. Is it that we do not have enough Magistrates? Do we need more Courts and Prosecutors? Is there a lack of Police Investigating Officers? Answers to these questions will assist members of our Justice System to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their undertakings, and help in preventing the backlog in the Justice System.
Congratulations to the Members of Parliament on their discussion of Bill 19 of 2023. It was an educated and well informed discussion. One that was absent of the unneeded theatrics that have hindered mutual understanding of each other’s perspective in the past.
Best regards,
Mr. Jamil Changlee
Chairman
The Cooperative Republicans of Guyana
