Mr. Amado Chan
Engl 1035
18 July, 2012 Judiciary of Belize Charles Evans Hughes said, “We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is, and the judiciary is the safeguard of our property and our liberty and our property under the Constitution”. The legal system that Belize has is the judiciary and it is an independent branch of the government. Independent from government influence so that it does protect the rights of the ‘small’ people in society (Trueman). One of the fundamental legal protections that the constitution has towards criminal defendants are a presumption of innocence until proven guilty; the rights to be informed of the nature and particulars of the charges, to defend oneself before an independent and impartial court within a reasonable amount of time, and to have the hearings and trial conducted in public; and guarantees against self-incrimination and double jeopardy. In more serious criminal cases, the defendant also has a right to a trial by jury (Belize-Judiciary). Belize has a magistrate’s court in all districts that have authority in less serious civil and criminal cases. On the other hand, the Supreme Court is in charge of more serious criminal cases, as well as any substantive legal questions. With the unparalleled increase in number of violent crimes the courts are not enough to deal with the cases. Before the augmentation in the number of judges, the available judges had overtime, accumulated a number of reserved judgments as they struggle with the growth in the court’s pile of fresh cases and applications that were increasingly listed before them before hearing. It is totally understandable that accusers and their attorneys get anxious and frustrated for being kept waiting for judgments after the conclusion of their cases. Hon. Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh said, “Justice delayed is justice denied” is without a question, a universal lament that has haunted and continue to haunt the administration of justice in almost every jurisdiction (Conteh). This problem does not happen only in Belize, which does not mean that delayed judgments should be viewed with calmness. In Belize there is lack of judges particularly on the civil side to meet increasing number of cases filed each year. It is very important to know that a lot is expected from the role of the judiciary in the National affairs, but the funding that the judiciary is granted does not reflect the importance. From the $729 million of the total budget 2012-2013 of the country, the Judiciary’s received just $7,891,108 – 1.08% of the total, which was a slightly increase from past years. With the limited resources the judiciary finds ways and means to work as effectively as they can to ensure that Belize gets their services. It is a fact that over the years the judiciary has always been pushed for funds to undertake important initiatives and projects and even to meet some modest needs. The police are the front line of the criminal justice system; they are responsible for the detection and investigation of crimes. They arrest suspects, interview potential witness, obtain statements form them and initially charge suspects. For a while, an issue has been arising this is that witness of crimes are increasingly not willing to come forward to testify; because of fear or pressure. This results in the lack of material witness for a successful trial of the offence. It is not that Belizean juries are perverse and allowing guilty men go free, it is that the cases collapse when they finally get to court or are routinely withdrawn by prosecutors because of the chilling fact of witness intimidation. Witness intimidation is at the heart of the problem, not juries. Fix the witness intimidation problem and conviction rates will begin to rise (Smith). It is important to realize that crime concerns everyone, and not just the direct victims. This is why the action actions to criminal cases are a matter between the state and the blamed. The crown in whose name crime s are still prosecuted, is here to ensure the safety and protection of the community through successful prosecutions. It is very sad to hear that some cases are dropped because of the lack of witness. To deal with these increasing crime rate the country needs stronger, credible and efficient criminal justice system that should put criminals where they belong. From the Chief Justice’s Annual Report on Judiciary, the national crime total for the year of 2008 were 5058 lodged cases and 3616 disposed. The Crimes included aggravated assault, burglary, carnal knowledge, dangerous harm, control drugs, murder just to mention a few. The highest numbers of crimes were from drug control (2258) and aggravated assault (971). The district with the highest crime rate was in Belize with 32% of the total crimes (Conteh). With these statistics it can be clearly been seen that the judiciary needs to be improved from the police to the judges dealing with cases. The improvement needs to start from the front line because the front line are the ones that responsible for bringing the cases to court; however, they need to do their job well to avoid cases to be disregarded. The government of Belize should also improve in the budget that is granted to the judiciary because they are many things that can be done but because there is a lack of finance they are not done. With more budget the magistrates will be able to attend conferences and workshops that are held outside the country to improve their capabilities in dealing with cases. Many things can be done with more money; our country will be able to act in the necessary way to tackle the issue of crime in the proper way. Works Cited
Belize-Judiciary. January 1992. Document. 18 July 2012.
Conteh, Abdulai Dr. Chief Justice Annual Report on the Judicairy of Belize. Annual Report. Belize, 2009. Document.
Smith, Godfrey. "Flashpoint." 06 April 2011. The Economic of Crime. Document. 18 July 2012.
Trueman, Chris BA. History Learning Site. 2000. Document. 18 July 2012.
Cited: Belize-Judiciary. January 1992. Document. 18 July 2012. Conteh, Abdulai Dr. Chief Justice Annual Report on the Judicairy of Belize. Annual Report. Belize, 2009. Document. Smith, Godfrey. "Flashpoint." 06 April 2011. The Economic of Crime. Document. 18 July 2012. Trueman, Chris BA. History Learning Site. 2000. Document. 18 July 2012.
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