Also the responsibility of the criminal justice system – Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Letters to the editor

4 hours ago

THE EDITOR: Our Constitution, which is the foundation of the state, establishes three main organs of government: the legislature (parliament), the executive (the cabinet headed by a prime minister) and the judiciary. Each is endowed with specific responsibilities and, in my opinion, carries no less weight than the other. Each has a complex duty not only to play its part in building the nation, but also to solve the problems that plague our society and prevent us from moving forward.

No problem hangs over us as a nation so heavily and urgently as the regional plague of crime, fueled by local criminals and gangs and the transnational illegal drug trade. It seems to me, however, that while we place the heavy burden and responsibility on parliamentarians and ministers to solve the crime problem and bring us relief, no one seems to be asking the judiciary to fulfill its roles and responsibilities to us citizens in this war on crime.

It was instructive to me when I recently heard the Prime Minister at his constituency conference in Diego Martin read out the sentences on our statute books for serious offences such as weapons offences. These range from ten years imprisonment to 25 years for repeat offenders, and in many cases even life imprisonment. These severe sentences are in force for many serious offences and are part of our laws, written by our legislatures and supported by the executive branch of the state.

However, when I look at the reality of the application of these laws and in particular the sentences imposed, it is almost never the case that criminals feel the full burden of the law. It seems that the judiciary, at its own discretion, often sees no reason to impose these severe sentences on those found guilty, when it comes to many heinous gun crimes, gang crimes, kidnappings, assaults, burglaries and other all too familiar crimes.

I wonder if there is a gap between the perception that the judiciary has of our society and the reality that citizens live in. How bad does it have to get before the judiciary takes a firm stand against convicted criminals?

This becomes even clearer when I see how easily criminals are granted bail, again at the discretion of judges, for serious crimes. Serial offenders are easily introduced into the revolving door of our criminal justice system, only to be thrown back onto the streets in a perpetual cycle, to terrorize citizens once again.

As far as I am concerned, it is the judiciary itself that keeps this revolving door going and the discretion judges have to be lenient with criminals when it comes to imposing bail and sentences.

With constitutional responsibility comes accountability and with crime pushing our society to the breaking point, citizens are holding our legislators and ministers to account and demanding action. However, the judiciary cannot be so sacrosanct that we, the people, cannot scrutinize its actions and demand that it change its approach to meet the needs of our society.

I call on the judiciary to wake up and acknowledge our reality by conducting serious self-reflection and re-examining its role in solving the crime problem in TT.

RAJIV HEMANT

San Fernando