Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
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CASTRIES, St Lucia: The Acting Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has warned that the judicial system cannot respond emotionally to escalating crime.
Justice Brian Alleyne made the comments on Tuesday, ahead of a workshop for police prosecutors in St Lucia.
He told reporters that while, "the court must reflect the public disgust at escalating crime, it must temper that with an awareness of the legal demands."
"The court has to apply the law and to seek to do justice between the parties which means justice to the victim, to the society and to the accused person," Justice Alleyne added.
With a violent crime wave threatening to inundate the Caribbean, the courts are being viewed as the region's last line of defence.
But in the eyes of some people, that defence has at times proved ineffective, in that too often the punishment meted out by the courts does not match the severity of the crime.
"...the public doesn't always understand the reasons why a particular sentence is imposed and sometimes the public thinks the sentence is too harsh or not sufficiently harsh. One of the things that the judiciary has now started to do is to give reasons why a particular sentence is imposed," Justice Alleyne said.
Once the reason is given for imposing a particular penalty, the court believes people will understand.
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court harbours its own concerns about inefficiency and effectiveness of the judicial system in a number of areas.
The concerns are also shared by St Lucia Police, who have been detailing their frustrations to the island's Minister of Internal Security, Calixte George.
"...deficiencies in existing legislation, including the newly enacted criminal code. The need to educate and sensitize magistrates to certain issues and concerns of the law enforcement officers, the frustration felt by police officers when magistrates throw out cases and when minimal fines or sentences are handed down in certain cases," George explained.
Precisely because of the concerns about the operations of the judicial system, Police Prosecutors are taking part in a three-day workshop on implementing new laws of criminal procedure.
This will involve a new system of trying criminal cases, to eliminate inefficiencies and clear up the backlog of cases.
Facing mounting pressure to curb the island's escalating crime rate, the St Lucian government has made it clear that it intends to hang convicted murderers, but says that due process of law must be followed.
The government says it has activated mechanisms to start the process of executing at least one of the four prisoners currently on death row on the island.
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