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Trinidad & Tobago Judicial System

Name: George

Title: Judges or Juries?

Comments: I really can't see the true or logical reasons or the urgent desire to scrap the jury service here is a democratic nation where the jury service has always been an essential part of the legal apparatus. Abolishing the jury service could be another mistake being made by politicians lacking in foresight. I know that the main local reason being put forward for getting the rid of the jury service here is that there are at present too much delay in trials where juries are being used. However there have been no complaints from other nations using the jury service to support this accusation. Almost all countries in the world uses the jury service with their legal systems successfully. I am however,fully aware that there are a few nations using a panel of judges at trials. These nations are not however, corrupt and has been classified as fully developed with no perpetual high rate of serious crimes as is now prevalent in this country .The idea of using a panel of judges appear so far to be a success. If the hidden complaint is that juries are being got at by offering bribes, then this under hand practice could also be used by a panel of judges with more drastic results within this nation. We cannot in this nation where corruption has become one of our main crimes and part of our culture rely either on a group of citizens acting as juries or a panel judges to bring about the correct verdict in especially cases where the defendants are wealthy or of a high profile. The only remedial solution to the present problem is to introduce more severe vetting of potential juries, reduce the numbers of citizens within the jury make up with a limitation on time to arrive at a verdict. We should not readily divert from a system that has been well tried and tested within the legal system over the past centuries.Doing so here, in this corrupt nation, could be just another step which will sooner than later lead to turning this nation into a dictatorship.

System Judicial Tobago and Trinidad

Name: George

Title: A one man Judge & Jury?

Comments: It would appear that most of the politicians in this government and high ranking officials of the legal system are not thinking straight or using logical reasoning .However, if they are then they must be planning to turn this nation into a dictatorship with growing poverty for our ordinary citizens,and more power for the big boys outside our politics, yes the Mister Bigs,and other wealthy crooks would use this new system to escape the arms of the law. I refer again to the call to scrap the jury service and believe it or not to introduce a single citizens to act as judge and jury. Now who in their right mind on this island would think up of such an idea bearing in mind the vast amount of corruption and prevailing doubts about the honesty of our judiciary we have here. I can already visualize a few wealthy high ranking crooks and masterminds of corruption packing their brown envelopes with vast amounts of dollars and a few judges becoming overnight millionaires, if this suggestion ever become reality. It is the old rick again trying to make things worse than trying to put what is wrong right by consultation and logical reasoning ri… Governments can't just can't throw a jury system that has been tried and test over many decades just because others in the legal system are failing to cope with our crime scenario.

Trinidad & Tobago Judicial System Caribbean / Tobago & Trinidad

Name: George

Title: Trial by judge alone

Comments: The idea of introducing trial by judge alone here is going to be in the end a major blunder. If we are unable to apply in a pragmatic and correct method the well tried and tested arrangements of trial by jury which is well established an in use for many decades, then there is no chance that trail by judge only is going to bring about a fairer justice system here. We must bear in mind that this nation is already corrupt to its core, and such a scheme could only lead to more corruption and is one step towards dictatorship. In my opinion this is something thought up by politicians lacking in foresight and hoping to turn this nation gradually into a form of dictatorship.

System Judicial Tobago and Trinidad

Name: George

Title: The Travesty of a justice system

Comments: Gosh. What type of justice system exists in this country?. Our justice system is a laughing stock to the outside world, especially when outsiders read about cases like the one reported today in one of our leading newspaper. In this report, a man who committed a crime 31 years ago was finally made now to pay his retribution by appearing in a local court. If this gives an indication of the backlog of cases waiting to be heard, then this nation has lost the idea of having a justice systems and dealing with crime in order to uphold, maintain the law and preventing criminals from indulging in more crimes, by leaving them free to continue their acts of criminality for decades before being brought to trial. This clearly displays the snail pace operation of the machinery of law and order in this nation. Moreover, it is unbelievable to think that we have a justice system at all, and a supposedly educated and a highly paid alleged qualified citizen in charge and referred to and calling himself the Chief Justice together with locally elected politicians supporting an obvious antiquated so-called justice system in which legal professionals all dressed up in their pretty gear but are failing to apply the ethics associated with a true justice system. The present legal system here can only be considered as an imaginary and unfair one, which is supposed to protect loyal abiding and respected members of this population, but obviously do not, bearing in mind the existence of the criminal in the above case who was allowed for decades to walk as a free man and most probably able to carry out further such crimes before he was finally brought to trial. It all adds up to madness, but as the calypsonian say welcome to Trinidad where half the citizens are mad anyway.