MINISTER of Legal Affairs and Attorney-General, Basil Williams met yesterday with a team from the Justice Education Society (JES) to discuss the way forward on the proposed reformation of the criminal justice system here.Officially titled ‘Strengthening the Guyanese Criminal Justice System (SGCJS), the two-year project is being funded by the Government of Canada.
According to Minister Williams, yesterday’s meeting centred around components of the conduct of crime scene and police investigations for the purpose of gathering enough evidence to successfully prosecute a case.
What this means, in essence, he said, is that training must also be given to magistrates as well as State and police prosecutors as part of the entire process.
Said he: “We have identified with the components in the programme that is being administered by the Justice Education Society, and we believe it’s very relevant, due to complaints such as lawyers taking advantage of police prosecutors.”
Noting that the police are usually blamed when there are no successful prosecutions, Minister Williams said training all parties involved should help see a significant reversal in trends.
According to JES International Programs Manager, Evelyn Neaman, activities can commence as early as next month, provided that the training supplies and equipment arrive on time.
The full scope of the activities include: Working with the police on crime-scene protection; working with investigators on investigation; working with the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP);  helping police prosecutors; and training for the magistrates courts.
One of the components of the project has to do with the media playing a key role in the dissemination of information. Said Neaman, “There is a documentary for public viewing, which will bring about greater awareness on the project, and what it hopes to achieve, so they (the public at large) can better understand what this project is, so we can build better confidence in the justice system.”
It is in this regard, she said, “that we hope to work with the media. They can take some of the clips to disburse them.”
The JES has embarked on similar projects in Central America and Ethiopia. The Canadian non-governmental organisation, Justice Education Society of British Columbia, is injecting the sum of US$750,000 into the project, which will be used for the development of Guyana’s justice system.
The plan will look at training in legislative drafting; the training of judges and lawyers; and addressing the question of how the courts are administered.
Part of the grant will be spent on addressing the undue delay and backlog of cases. (GINA)