TRINIDAD & TOBAGO’S JUSTICE SYSTEM GETS SOME RELIEF

By a Staff Reporter: Major changes within T&T’s justice system has resulted in there being a decrease of almost 147, 000 cases in the Magistrate’s Court.
In the Senate on Tuesday, Attorney General Faris Al Rawi in giving his contribution to the debate on the Summary Courts Amendment Act 2021, explained that the decriminalization of marijuana and the changing of traffic offences to violations, have greatly contributed to this decline.
The purpose of this Bill is to remove the requirement of consent for joiner of complaints in summary judicial matters by amending section 64 of the Summary Courts Act.
A joiner complaint is where two or more complaints are made by one or more parties against another party or other parties in the same matter, and the complaints in that matter are founded on the same facts, the complaints may, if the Court thinks fit, be heard and determined together unless the Court determines that separate proceedings are required in the interest of justice.
The Attorney General said on average there are about 15,000 joiner complaints in front the Magistrate’s Court
The Attorney General added that active case management is now done by trained staff and registrars thus professionalizing the justice system, this he said was not the case in 2015.