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Submitted by Pieceuhderockyeahright
Where is justice in the Barbados Courts?

I said that I would only come back on BU and comment if/when there was something to speak about and a challenge was laid down for some governance ideas by a blogger here. I said I would risk wading into uncharted waters and give some ideas about the Justice System and the 40 year backlog it is purported to have.

In proposing this submission I relied on the antiquated? process/mechanism which the GCE O Levels employed regarding as the overseas entity that marked local O and A level exams. When you did your exam under Cambridge and you put your # on those papers, de white people in englant did not care who you was, for unlike de CXC Caribbean counterparts, papers were marked for the most part, based on content and the marks ascribed were not determined on your social standing.

So here is an extrapolation of said concept as an optimization of our current legal/jurisprudence dilemma as relates to our courts. I suggest a project that would (a) get de international community to underwrite a Pan Caribbean Pilot geared at removing all the backload in the Justice System(s) for Caricom member states say Jamaica, Guyana and Barbados funded by EU and IDB money. (b) the Project would have these 4 elements

  1. Input and Denuding
  2. HR Enrolments and Metrics
  3. Content Dissemination and Decisions
  4. Collections, Reintegrations and Dispersion

Every single case under scrutiny will be ordered by its import (gravity) and accorded a FIFO quotient as to how long the matter was outstanding. Then they would be systematically “denuded” of all โ€œmarkersโ€ so that while all the elements of the legal matters remain, THERE WILL BE NO NAMES, ADDRESSES OR SPECIFIC DETAILS TO IDENTIFY THE PLAINTIFFS. Of course there will be matters where certain details will be required but, for the most part, a sanitization of the records can be successfully achieved.

The HR hired to examine these legal matters will be assessed by External assessors (because we know that if it was based on internal approvals – all we incompetent friends, did not say Trottie, going get picks) and they would be engaged based on their abilities and experience/track records. HR WILL BE TAKEN FROM A GLOBAL POOL of skilled legal persons, preferably those who are retired and they will be engaged using a metric that enforces Quality Assurance of their decisions AND they will be compensated under Performance Based criteria.

Quite simply, if they are assigned ten cases which are assessed to require 10 man hours, each qualified staffer will be paid, once 100 hours are completed and the document are submitted.

The Cases will be allocated based on expertise, congruent law, etc and the parties will be required to give their decisions based on the laws of that jurisdiction.

Their final output will be peer assessed/vetted for consistency and compliance with laws in the jurisdiction of origination.

The denuded subject matter will then be โ€œreassembledโ€ with the requisite information attached for final dissemination.

De ole man of course ent no legal man so forgive the paucity of legal knowledge but I was only looking at developing and employing processes that are devoid of collusion, optimize resources and focus on resolution to the staggering backlogs across the region.

It would take qualified men like Mr Caswell Franklyn and the Luminary Mr Jeff Cumberbatch to inform whether this can or cant work but the suggestion is based on proposing indigenous constructs to address inefficiencies in our court and the endemic reality of “Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied.”


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103 responses to “The Court System – A Proposal to Address its Inefficiencies and Purported "Collusions”


  1. My sweet piece, Barbados is an island that embraces inefficiency and tramples upon any thing that attempts to make things workable. There will never be an attempt, let me rephrase, there will always be this appearance of looking like you are trying to improve the dismal state of our legal profession, but the outcome will always be one of the same: a lot was done that amounts to nothing achieved.

  2. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    I believe that a version of Piece’s suggestion is either being contemplated or is currently at the trial stage at the supreme court, using UWI law students as interns researching active cases…

    ….. dont know if they have thought as far ahead as rotating these students through the 3 UWI campuses across the Caribbean to prevent the incestous practices so ingrained in the bajan mentality….

    …..or to use regional and international retired legal minds to research individual cases and prevent incestous corrupt practices…that would damage the process and progress of individual cases.

    We do know that no case should last longer than 4 or 5 years and many can be expedited even sooner.

    I have seen first hand how incompetent lawyers maliciously and deliberately prolong cases to unnecessarily keep the process ongoing in the hope that the parties get fed up and withdraw the matter, they die, the judges are moved to the Assizes prompting a new replacement judge to start the process all over again, the judge gets fed up, frustrated and abandons the case …..defense attorneys refuse to prepare for trial….creating more delays, particularly if the case is near it’s end…..a nasty practice these lawyers and law firms should be very severely penalized for disrespecting the court and parties to the matter..sending them a very public message to act as a deterrent to the other lawyers who have gotten away with such unethical behaviors for decades.

    Leslie Haynes law firm with his junior attorneys attorney are famous for this and got the nerve to call it practicing law.

    I have seen first hand how utterly mentally exhausting and psychologically painful it is to sit through a trial for even simple matters in the supreme court, just observing left me mentally and physically drained and wanting to scream, slap the lawyers from both plaintiff and defense side and ask the judge if she did not have a gun she could use……

    ……within an hour, I wanted to seriously hurt someone….the lawyers, I have never seen anything like it anywhere else, …it’s like mental torture, no wonder people just dont bother to pursue court matters…..it really does look and sound hopeless….having to be subjected to the mindless bullshit spewed by the lawyers, which most times does not resemble anything even minutely close to being law….it more resembles a bag of petty, trifling, small time conman tricks, like one would find in a high school.


  3. If you visit certain countries — China and Cuba come to mind — the legal process is much less complicated and case backlogs are short.

    The Western world looks with disdain on these systems, but its own system is overwrought, filled with uncertainty and delays, and prohibitively expensive in so many cases that ingenious workarounds have to be devised with increasing frequency.

    To make matters worse, the Western model of justice disrespects anyone who is accused of anything, forcing him or her to remain a silent bystander in the court, while lawyers decide his fate. This should be totally unacceptable to the citizenry of any “free” country, but we have always meekly collaborated with the power brokers in the legal Establishment.

    Barbafos cannot afford its lawyers and judges. Period.


  4. Piece
    I have a few questions of which I would welcome your input Sir:

    1) Isn’t backlog common to every judicial system in the world though not 40 years of it?
    2) What are the facts and factors which contributes to these backlogs?
    3) And can you point to any judicial system in world that you would wish/want Barbados/ Caribbean judicial system to be erected after in terms of its efficiency?
    4) Now isn’t it a know fact the hearings, continuances, motions and discovery, contributes to the backlog and inefficiency in the system?
    5) And lastly, can we concluded that the lawyers as well as parties to the trial are the primary caused of backlog and the inefficiency in the judicial system?
    6) And that a judge has little or no influence over these unfortunate occurrences?


  5. Chad99999

    Who are you comparing China and Cuba judicial system to? Now are we not talking about two communist countrties with what I would estimate with a very low rate of crime as apposed to cities in the United States like Chicago and Los Angeles, where the crime rate is astronomical, and backlog of cases are inconceivable. Nevertheless, it would be of interest to ascertain what you have observed in those two judicial systems that those in the western world have yet discovered?


  6. Chad99999

    I don’t know as to where your disdain for the western model of jurisprudence arises from, but I could tell you this much: a district attorney would never move ahead with a case if he or she believes that it is impossible to convince a jury of an accused guilt, and thereby winning a conviction because his or her reputation as a prosecutor is on the line. And remember: in the western model the prosecutor much beyond a shadow of doubt convince an accused peers that he or she is gulity of whatever he or she has been accused of. So if a fool believes that he or she is capable enough to by his or her own lawyer the law allows for that as well here.


  7. Dumpy

    I am disappointed at your reaction. A legal system is created to resolve disputes. How can anyone think that it makes sense to create a system of dispute resolution that is so complex that the protagonists in any dispute have to shut up and sit down, so that total strangers -hired guns- whose only expertise is in the specialized mechanics of the law, can take over and settle the matter among themselves.

    The system we have serves the lawyers well, but not the citizens. That is not right.

  8. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    “To make matters worse, the Western model of justice disrespects anyone who is accused of anything, forcing him or her to remain a silent bystander in the court, while lawyers decide his fate.”

    Chadster….if you ever observe Barbados supreme court proceedings…plaintiffs have the same very problem, mere bystanders since most of the lawyers dont think you their client should know what’s happening in the proceedings, his or her plan to win your case or if your case has been already completed or setttled, so as long as the two lawyers are colluding outside of the clients or the court’s knowledge…you are screwed, particularly if the clients are not savvy enough to keep up with the thread of the proceedings.

    Those lawyers violate client’s rights.

    The judges with their heavy case loads have to watch out for constant tricks from slimy law firms like Haynes”.

    Dumpty…then why are so many innocent black and hispanic men being released after serving upwards of 30 and 40 years in US prisons through DNA exclusion and the INNOSENSE PROJECT.

    I will answer one of the questions you asked Piece.

    Barbados needs to create it’s own judicial processes, it’s very tiny and should never accumulate a decades old backlog, I saw all the files of backlog and they were all in one tiny room….there is no excuse for not creating an efficient, competent judicial processs.

    If Piece has seen more than I did he can expand,


  9. Anyone who trusts the jury system in the Western world is a fool. Most jurors are stupid, lazy and unable to see beyond their personal prejudices. A woman who is anxious about rape thinks every accused rapist must be guilty. White people will convict a black man of almost anyrhing, unless he is Sidney Poitier.

    We need to find judges who have the rarest of virtues– integrity. That is more important to a system of justice than legal expertise.

    Besides, the idea that you can find the truth in any conflict by setting up an adversarial system of competing liars, is grotesque.


  10. WW&C

    I am glad we can finally agree about something.

    Now, if only you could escape from the Liberal Plantation.

  11. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Dont push ya luck CHadster……I am seriously pushing for the term Racist Terrorists and the banning and isolation of racists from society to rid the world of white poison.

    But….”competing liars”…..does accurately sum up what happens in Barbados courtrooms re lawyers and it is very grotesque.

    Legal procedures need updating to include the banning of lies by lawyers as a tool to derail cases, it is horrific to see when everyone in the courtroom knows the lawyer is lying….but it is acceptable and the norm.

    Something is very wrong with that picture.


  12. The idea that criminal courts are clogged because of high crime rates is false.

    Criminal courts are clogged in every Western country, even in wealthy jurisdictions with small populations and low crime rates.

    The reason Western courts are clogged is that the law is overly complex and hopelessly time consuming.It takes years of effort to prepare for some court cases.


  13. Well Well

    Because 30 years ago DNA and the Finger Printing Analysis AFIT testing were still in their infancy, and a lot of people in those days were convicted on eyeswitness testimony exclusively. Nevertheless, there is a black guy in my very state who had been convicted of raping white woman back in 1986, and who mine you spent 27 years in jail after DNA analysis exonerated him a few years ago of such charges.
    Well Well, you ought to understand that DNA and Adance Finger Printing Analysis were still in their infancy as far back as the 1980s, so therefore, eyewitness testimony coupled with false testimony of crooked White cops with ulterior mmotivs were at fault or contributory to such convictions back in the day.


  14. I thought by now David would be out and about, slyly defending his sleazy profession.

    But you know, the lawyers have some of the best-looking suits in Barbados!

    Yo David!


  15. @ Chad
    Boss… yuh kicking this morning.


  16. Chad99999

    Though your analysis may have within it some residue of fact the factors which I’ve made mentioned to above ( hearings, continuances, motions and discovery) are some of the problems the judicial system here in America is faced with, coupled with the lack of judges. This what I have been told and what I’ve read, so I have no other choice than to believe what I have been told by people in that profession here.


  17. We should comment on the fees the lawyers are charging for arbitratng.

  18. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Yeah Dompey…US DAs are so upstanding and not the gutter rat, swamp rat scums that they really are, with their only intent beong to lock up blacks and hispanics just to win a case, even if the culprit is white.

    Which despite all that adbance in DNA, fingerprinting and world class firensics, still happens in US today, but it takes less time to prove innocence.

    Chadster….the Caribbean is a high risk area, because of weak systems, particularly the judiciary and corrupt politicians, the people do nOt even know how closee they cane to be taken over by fascist nazis out of Canada and alt right extremist racist terrorists in 1981, just the other day, google it yaself, Dominica was the first soft target, FBI had to intervene and shut it down

    Hence one reason it’s very important to strengthen the judiciary, rid the island of the nasty, low class lawyers who do not understand even remotely the practice of law….and get rid of corrupt politicians/ministers, court officials and corruption in the office of the attorney general and office of DPP.

    One thing the US embassy is not lying about, the Caribbean, particularly the soft targets and slave societies like Barbados are definitely at risk……again.

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    Paul Fromm, Barbara Kulaszka and her co-counsel Doug Christie
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    Fromm is among the old guard of Canadaโ€™s far-right. While he and his ilk have been largely ignored in recent years, overshadowed by the rise of the so-called alt-right taken up by younger and more tech-savvy figures, they represent Canadaโ€™s sordid โ€” and often overlooked โ€” past with white supremacy.

    Over the course of the summer, to mark Canadaโ€™s 150th birthday, VICE News will be digging into some of the forgotten sagas from the past century-and-a-half. In June, we published the history of the RCMPโ€™s barn-burning tactics to go after the Black Panther Party.

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    It was from there that an ambitious plot took shape in the early 80s, with a small group of neo-Nazis and Klansmen from the U.S. and Canada planning a coup against the Caribbean island of Dominica, led in part by German-born Canadian Wolfgang Droege.

    The plan, detailed in the book Bayou of Pigs, was for the ragtag militia to travel to the small impoverished island from New Orleans and storm the government, armed with automatic weapons and a Nazi flag. They would then set up a white nationalist paradise, funded by gambling and offshore banking.

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  19. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    There is a fees schedule which can be obtained by any client from the government printing service on Bay Street, right next to government headquarters., clients can peruse the fees schedule and let the lawyer know they will not be ripped of..

    If they do not want to research lawyer’s fees, they are asking to be ripped off, lawyers tell many lies, stealing is nothing.


  20. Dumpy

    asked, What do I find interesting in non-Western systems of law.

    I cannot give a full answer to the question here, but I will mention four practices.

    One, the use of judge panels with lay judges ( non-lawyers) influencing the decisions of the court, and sometimes overruling the lawyers on the judge panel.

    Two, direct, extended questioning of all witnesses by the judges.

    Three, great latitude given to the accuser and the accused to speak for themselves, and not just be pawns manipulated by opposing lawyers.

    Four, drastically simplified legal documents and protocols.


  21. @Pieces, as usual an interesting submission. I can merely gaze in wonder that you believe that justice reform is given true gravitas and not lip service.

    You are quite familiar with the major changes (arbitration, small claims adjudications, sentencing reforms, more tech in court to speed judgement and many others) to reform and improve the system (world wide if not so much Bim).

    Thus even as some traction is gained yet things remain totally ‘constipated’.

    Is there really a will (should I say pun intended) to expedite the legal system!

    @chad45 at 8:14 AM #…Glad to see that you are back to your main-stay as a provocateur and moot court convener. So having set your bait I will catch at it…LOL.

    You parade your extensive ‘hired gun’ style credentials however you make such a statement as above! Provocation!!!!!

    You love offering ‘alternative factoids’ as if life sits in your own little Chad-vacuum.

    Of course the law professional have layered many complex and arcane rules atop simple facts of life to ensure there is a cadre of everlasting business be it universities/law school, jobs in the legal profession, jobs in the administration of justice etc, etc.

    But yet do you perceive that if the thousands of Chads and Annes off the streets represented themselves that the free-for-all would be more rational and meaningful.

    Your supposed solution starts its own worst problems but good bait dangle canard! LOLL.


  22. Dribbler

    To be fair, you should address each of my points systematically, instead of doing a hit-and-run.

    What is wrong with simplifying legal documents and rules of procedure so they are understandable and accessible to all?

    What is wrong with having several judges hearing a case instead of just one judge? Collective wisdom is better than individual wisdom

    Why do you believe witnesses and lawyers should be so restricted in what they are.allowed to say in court. Is less information better than more information?

  23. Vincent Haynes Avatar

    Piece

    This looks very much like a ISO 9000 operation legally speaking.

    Anyhow you have the two BU brainiacs giving you expert advice on it….ah mean Dumpy and Chad 45……between you three the legal system should be up and running in no time flat.


  24. Wait … what id Dribbler doing over on this blog?
    Bushie would have thought that he was busy drafting some lukewarm apology to the bushman …over on the drone /robot blog…
    LOL
    ha ha ha
    whaloss!!!


  25. Ok Chad…fair….there was no hit-and-run. I always drive respectfully!

    Absolutely nothing ‘wrong with simplifying legal documents and rules of procedure”. In the main I believe that is the intent.

    As a professional you know quite well that the ‘SIMPLE’ form becomes very complex with the proverbial fine-print because of the pervasive instances of nuisance suits done by dishonest citizens to get damage awards. That has created over the years its own problems.

    Thus to simply rent a bike for example may result in a laundry list of dos/don’t to forestall such a dishonest but costly nuisance claim.

    So YES you are right but there is no EASY remedy as you would suggest ….UNLESS there is an overall dictum (as per your communist regimes) which DIRECTS a maximum that could ever be awarded re certain class of cases!

    Your 2) you got me perplexed re “What is wrong with having several judges hearing a case instead of just one judge?”.

    There are different types of case methodologies and surely the multi judge panel is regularly used at APPEAL.

    For very practical reasons (too costly, time prohibitive and counter intuitive) it would not be generally feasible to adopt that for most cases at first instance.

    And 3) further perplexed re “Why do you believe witnesses and lawyers should be so restricted in what they are.allowed to say in court. Is less information better than more information?”

    Again, as far as experience shows, that is to the advantage of the plaintiff or defendant in a case.

    In difficult cases if two people can’t reach an agreement outside the court what gives you the strong perspective that they will come to court and speak reasonably to each other to agree….without that free-for-all I spoke of earlier.

    Obviously if a person is in criminal court when the consequences may be incarceration then the old adage would answer you: ‘A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client’.

    (To be clear, your remarks cannot apply generally to the lawyers other than in a procedural way and of course a witness is ONLY in court to say what is relevant to the matter..NO more and ideally NO less).


  26. Ah, Mr Bushtea..the apology was to stay silent. Besides after I read your response to Pacha on another blog I was reminded that you are at a level of English persuasive craftsmanship that is way, way beyond my limited skills…

    That was masterful…you AGREED that statements you made were in fact mutually exclusive and then proceeded to offer an argument on why they were STILL mutually viable collectively.

    And you even convinced me by the end. LOL.

    I respectfully bow to you oh wise one!….As one NEVER wins an argument with you!


  27. I will counter three of your points:

    It is absolutely essential to drain money from the legal system. If lawyers and lawyer-judges are paid some of the highest salaries in society, that interferes with justice by making legal judge panels too expensive.

    Also, if courts make the mistake of huge financial awards and settlements, they are swarmed by litigants, etc. The best example of this is the United States.

    Two, there would be no free-for-all in courts because rules of court behaviour enforced by the state would still apply.

    Three, with a much less complicated system of law, it would no longer be foolish to represent yourself in court.

  28. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Chadster….small claims courts are a good example of self representation…in the US and other modern jurisdictions….cut out the annoying useless middleman, the lawyer….one on one with the judge…very ideal and time saving.

    The judges and the procedures itself has “Also, if courts make the mistake of huge financial awards and settlements, they are swarmed by litigants, etc.”….this very much in control on the island….the procedures are tight.

    ……the fly in the ointment of course is the collusion between lawyers who believe they are the ones who should be compensated handsomely for the personal injury…..and not the injured claimants.

    I have seen this myself, it plays out all the time.


  29. Good morning to all.
    I find myself being persuaded by Chad line of reasoning.
    However, he seems theoretical as W&W keeps reminding us that the real problem what goes on outside the courtroom.
    How do you fix that?


  30. Welcome back PUDRYR.
    The good news is that Sisyphus was never unemployed…..
    The bad news, it was a repetitive job.

  31. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    The only remedy for that right now Gazer, is exposing them and naming the culprits nonstop, putting pressure on the judges to not let the known culprits continue to control the courtrooms…

    ….. the judges own their courtrooms and should be in full control at all times…

    Since one protector of chaos in the courtrooms by criminal insurance companies is now gone….FOR GOOD……., that should ease some of the pressure on the judges, but there is still a long way to go…the residual nastiness remains in the form of lawyers/law firms who are disrespectful of the law, the courts, the judges and plaintiffs.

    Depending on how things go in the very near future and with permission, I will be able to expound on these moving parts.


  32. BU understands it will cost a client between three and fifteen thousand dollars based on the complexity of the case and there is no guarantee. The arbiters (lawyers) always win.

  33. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Ah bet Delisle Worrell can give good information and advice about that…..

    Lawyers can tell whether a case is winnable or not…

    …the lawyers in Barbados refuse to tell their clients when they cannot win a case, they do not want the money train to end,, they have no ethics, which they were taught at university, or moral compass..


  34. @chad45, with all respect to your post @10:25 AM but as I said earlier you offer excellent ‘moot point’ provocation.

    No one can dispute your basic assertion that is developed from the point re: “If lawyers and lawyer-judges are paid some of the highest salaries in society, that interferes with justice by making legal judge panels too expensive.”

    But it is mindless in 2017 to assert that point as if its some nascent ground breaking new concept.

    Chad we have long by-passed the apprenticeship system; we have long done away with the solicitor/barristers system.

    How is heavens name do you perceive that the entrenched money-changers will be chased out of this temple of greed and gold by fiat of the people’s desires???

    Of course those “huge financial awards and settlements” cause litigants to swarm. Who disputes that.

    But where do you see tort reform actually taking hold and being aggressively legislated on behalf of the average Joe or Anne??

    It becomes a ridiculous political football and gets restricted by the same legal lobbyists and their friends.

    Two & Three…be realistic Chad. The average poster here shows a level of savvy that I expect any of them could go into a court of law and represent themselves to some degree of success in simple disputes. That is EXACTLY what the small claims process facilitates.

    Of course decorum exists in those cases but what of the majority of cases which entail serious matters; or where people are cowed by the environment; or where they are some how impaired (not by substances) …the list where representation is NEEDED is long.

    Surely the system is often deliberately complex and it certainly needs simplifying but it is rather underwhelming to suggest that across the board that “… a much less complicated system of law, it would no longer be foolish to represent yourself in court.”

    You make salient (moot) points but in a SERIOUS change debate you are offering simplified rhetoric as a catch all. That is NOT viable.


  35. all cases are winnable what lawyer would tell you different…oh yeah a poor one .


  36. Well Well

    When you speak of a winnable case are you referencing a civil or criminal case? Because in a criminal case, if a lawyer knows that a case is winnable so does the prosecutor, so why would the prosecutor chance wasting state time and resources on a case he or she probably knows isn’t winnable?

  37. Well Well @ Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well @ Consequences Observing Blogger

    Lawson…again i used Worrell/government wrongful dismissal case as an example.

    the man in the street knew it was not winnable, whether he was buying time to trip up Sinckler or not….he paid thousands…

    but low and behold, when it was time to file with the CCJ…the same lawyer missed the deadline…lol

    the poor lawyer would still have his integrity, good reputation and the potential for future clients.

    i wont hire or refer Worrel`s lawyer to anyone.

  38. Well Well @ Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well @ Consequences Observing Blogger

    Dumpy….you do know US prosecutors run for elected offices right, so what do they care, the press alone solidifies and cements their future ambitions, it`s not like the money is coming out of their pockets and the next one could be the real winner.

    not to mention the lengths some DAs will go to win a case, any case, regardless of who is innocent or guilty…reputations are made, plea deals are popular, even for the innocent.

    Dompey, you should know all of this, you LIVE in US…


  39. Lawson

    Well I guess the prosecutor does in fact operate on the assumption that all cases are winnable from the defence/defense perspective, and that is probably the fundamental reason he or she doesn’t present a case to a grand jury unless he or she thinks it is winnable or that a jury would buy?


  40. Well Well

    I am well aware of the fact that the office of the state’s chief prosecutor is an elected official however, all of the other state prosecutors under him or her are appointed positions in my state. And you ought to know that the office of the state prosecutor doesn’t pay very well here, and that’s why it is important to have a winning record because most state and federal prosecutors make the best and highest paid defence/ defense attorneys here after state and federal service.


  41. Well Well
    And you ought to know that most elected prosecutors in the United States have some kind of political ambition as well. Both houses of Congress are jam pack with persons whom were or have been former state and Federal prosecutors!


  42. The lawyers and criminals alike love the present arrangement. It is heavily tilted in their favor and easily manipulated. On the other hand Judges are handsomely compensated for doing little. A win- win for both.


  43. With about one thousand lawyers said to be licensed to operate in Barbados why is it there is only Comissiong and a few others have shown themselvs to be public spirited? Why have successive presidents of the Bar and Disciplinary Committees been unable to move things along? Why cant we fix the problems at the Registry etc etc etc?

    Who gives a shit about the US courts.


  44. Dumpy
    Sometimes it is not necessary to have a winning record … If you can demonstrate that you are ‘tough on crime’ (code words), you can be elected year after year. Many a law officer had a long career by taking a racist stance and pursuing the innocent and guilty with a great deal of vigor.

    I wish I was living in the same Utopian society you….


  45. “Who gives a shit about the US courts.”

    Statement of the day. No matter what we are discussing we draw parallels to some other big country. A distraction.


  46. We have a Chief Justice straight outta New York, a fat lot it has done to improve the local judiciary. We have an Attorney General who cut his teeth shuffling paper in the US Virgin Islands, a fat lot of good it has done for the local judiciary.


  47. @David, re “Who gives a shit about the US courts.”

    You are obviously having a disruptive reaction to your lunch. That statement is ridiculous in every context.

    References to any court system outside Bdos at a basic level is educational, persuasive and in practical terms can act as a precedent re similar Jurisprudence as ours.

    There is something to be learned from any jurisdictions whether it’s merely process and procedures and not directly related to the law itself….was’t the ADR process something used heavily in the US by the same CJ which he tried to implement here.

    How can anyone realistically adopt that attitude about knowledge and growth coming from a locale the size of ours….

    Why post that piece about our students jetting of to that same shitty US to take part in the Robotics competition…Who gives a ‘sh**’ about Washington then !

    You are too ‘educated’ to make such a paltry remark.

    What nonsense!


  48. TheGazer

    I really disagree with your hypothesis that you have to be tough on crime to get elected because Rudy Giuliani was tough on crime when he was both Attorney General and Mayor of New York, and yet he was rejected by the American people when he bid for the presidency.


  49. The question is.Our native born and bred Chief Justice is a citizen of the USA which means he is barred from swearing allegiance to a foreign power,namely Queen Elizabeth 2.How is it that he is dispensing Justice on behalf of the “Crown” namely QE2 yet he is forbidden by the Oath he swore to uphold the United States Constitution which does not recognize dual citizenship.


  50. @Dee Word

    You always have been able to demonstrate an uncanny ability to ignore context. How is all the palaver (to borrow your word) about the US courts posted to this blog so far advance the thesis of Piece’s concern about the local court system?

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