Improving Barbados Criminal Justice System Through Better Case Disposal and Operations Boost at Magistrates' Courts: Insights from Chief Justice Haynes

For the criminal justice system in Barbados to improve and the case backlog to be drastically reduced, there needs to be better disposal of cases, and action taken to boost operations at the Magistrates’ Court level.

These were among the submissions by Chief Justice Leslie Haynes recently on Day 2 of the Barbados Police Service’s symposium titled Addressing Backlogs And Delays In The Barbados Criminal Justice System, being held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St Michael.

“We have to ascertain what is happening in the Magistrates’ Courts. [They], in my view, have been neglected for years and in order to improve the criminal justice system in Barbados, attention must be given to those courts.

“I would like to publicly thank the National Centre of State Courts for assisting us with the modernisation of the Magistrates’ Courts. We have been working with [the centre] for a number of years and we are about to roll out a programme in relation to maintenance and family matters. Once that programme is satisfactorily rolled out, it will then be migrated to criminal and civil [matters],” Haynes said.

He said statistics from the Barbados Police Service revealed that last year there were 765 indictable matters which were forwarded to the Magistrates’ Courts but only 186 were received by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

“That leaves about 570-something cases, indictable matters, not accounted for. That’s an issue. I’m also told anecdotally that there are many more still, so further investigation is necessary. But, to give Jack his jacket, there are issues where perhaps the magistrates may have disposed of a couple of them by saying there was not sufficient evidence to support the judge.

“In addition, as was pointed out to me earlier today [Wednesday], one indictable matter may have five indictable matters attached to it. So we cannot [solely] rely on the figures as such, but based on those figures and doing the best that I can do, I have arrived at the case disposition rate,” he said.

As for the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice said 499 cases were resolved in 2024 with the DPP’s office making around 186 indictments.

He said the case disposition rate was determined by the number of cases completed divided by the number of them instituted for the year, which in Barbados was roughly 67.6 per cent. He noted that the case backlog continued to grow once the rate was below 100 per cent and even the increase in the number of judges was insufficient to prevent it from increasing.

Haynes said it was time those who were pleading guilty to traffic offences be able to pay fines via a system established in the Magistrates’ Court, rather than attend court and “stand up outside in the hot sun”.

He also called for court to start on time; advised that delays and adjournments be minimised as much as possible; the time taken for completing preliminary enquiries reduced, and technology be better utilised.

He added that a lack of resources to help lawmen gather evidence for cases in a timelier manner was also contributing to delays in the justice system.

“Anecdotally, I will say the case disposition rate, even though nominally calculated at 67 per cent, has improved [over time].

“I am optimistic that with the intended changes that are to be introduced and with the change in culture I’m seeing, that within the next three to four years the case disposition rate will be close to or exceed 100 per cent.”

He added: “Do not let us walk away believing that all is lost; all is not lost. Sixty-seven per cent is not a bad percentage to start off with . . . but my attitude towards backlog is a simple one: I don’t bother with the backlog. When I say so, what I mean is this – if you keep looking back, you will always have a backlog and, to me, the position should be that we try to improve going forward. We can’t improve going back.

“Once you start to improve going forward, once those improvements have been made and you’re satisfied that they’re working, you can deal with the backlog separately. But if you do not improve going forward, you continue to grow the backlog. It’s as simple as that.”