Strides Being Made to Advance Needham’s Point Declaration

Legal professionals from Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States are reporting strides in advancing the Needham’s Point Declaration, which outlines bold, transformative actions and critical reforms aimed at improving the criminal justice systems in their respective countries.

They provided an update during the recent CCJ Academy for Law regional townhall at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, St. Andrew, to celebrate the Declaration’s first anniversary.

The hybrid session focused on advancing justice in the Caribbean, post Needham’s Point Declaration which follows six themes and contains 39 recommendations for reforming the criminal justice system in the region.

The themes cover: policy interventions, legislative interventions, prosecution and police, representation and support for the accused, victims/survivors charter of rights, and judicial interventions.

It was adopted on October 20, 2023, in the Republic of Barbados as part of the 7th Biennial Conference of the CCJ Academy for Law.

Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Jeremy Taylor, KC, informed that at least 20 of the recommendations are already in train and practice locally across the legal system.

“I think the Needham’s Point Declaration is a good start. Jamaica has implemented 20 of them, we need to implement more. We need to make it more widespread, and for those that we need legislative support, we need to give it,” he said.

For his part, Justice Minister, Hon. Delroy Chuck, said the recommendations outlined in the Declaration are consistent with a good criminal justice system, “and certainly, they are consistent with what I hope we can achieve here in Jamaica.”

He said an integrated criminal justice system will enable a smooth process among the various sectors.

The Minister informed that 20 attorneys for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) are being hired to strengthen the preparation and timely completion of case files, in order to enhance greater efficiency within the justice system.

Meanwhile, Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, St. Kitts and Nevis, Senator Garth Wilkin, said the timely and transformative document has been a roadmap for criminal justice reform across the Caribbean, noting that it has sparked significant progress in his country.

He said the establishment of the multistakeholder Justice Committee in November 2022 has been instrumental in fostering collaboration and addressing systematic criminal justice inefficiencies.

“However, since the launch of the Declaration last year, it propelled us into a new era of criminal justice reform. One of our first achievements being the bolstering of the DPP’s (Director of Public Prosecutions) office, almost doubling its prosecutorial capacity. This increase in manpower and resources has already reduced case backlogs. We have also been active in passing transformative laws, most of which are contemplated by the Declaration,” Senator Wilkin said.

“In September, we passed the Judge Alone Trials Act, which allows certain criminal cases, such as gang related or complex financial crimes, to be tried without a jury. We anticipate that approximately 30 per cent of high court prosecutions will be impacted,” he added.

Senator Wilkin said St. Kitts and Nevis has passed the Voluntary Bill of Indictment Act, giving the DPP the discretion to bypass preliminary hearings and take certain serious cases directly to trial in the high court.

“This law streamlines the prosecution of complex criminal cases involving serious fraud, organised crime and vulnerable witnesses, ensuring faster delivery of justice while preserving fairness. It is a game changer in reducing delays and enhancing efficiency in our criminal justice process,” he pointed out.

“In addition, this year we’ve modernised laws such as the Offences Against the Person Act, the Firearms Act and introduced the Proceeds of Crime and Asset Recovery Act to align penalties with the severity of crimes and strengthen our ability to take the profit out of crime. The penalty for possession of an automatic weapon in St. Kitts and Nevis is now 40 years with a maximum fine of $500,000 Eastern Caribbean or $29.5 million Jamaican,” Senator Wilkin said.

He further noted that in July, a consultant was engaged to conduct an in-depth assessment of the justice system, in alignment with the Declaration.

Senator Wilkin added that St. Kitts and Nevis’ criminal justice efforts are guided by the principles of the Needham’s Point Declaration, focusing on practical, actionable steps to modernise the country’s criminal justice system.

“The Declaration has truly set us on a path of progress and we are committed to seeing it through. I look forward to seeing how we, as a region, continue to transform our criminal justice systems in the years ahead,” he said.

Guyana’s DPP, Shalimar Ali-Hack, said her country has been fully supportive of the Declaration, noting that measures have been made to improve the three main arms of the country’s criminal justice system – the investigations, the trial and the judiciary.

“We have, now, more judges and it’s [at] a faster rate that we are disposing of the cases in the high court. With respect to legislation, we have had the Paper Committal Act, we have had the Plea Bargaining Act and there is an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act, because our list comprises a large number of sexual offence cases,” she said, noting that support and training are being provided to improve the investigative capacity in the country.

Ms. Ali-Hack said work will continue to advance the recommendations that have been outlined in the Declaration.

“We have been working on it, it’s a work in progress. I support it. I have seen changes and improvements in the criminal justice system in Guyana and we will continue to work on the other [recommendations],” she said.

CCJ Academy for Law Chairman, Justice Winston Anderson, said the Declaration is important, noting that it was agreed that all 39 recommendations are to be achieved within two years.

“It’s important that we make these adjustments and improvements, because we are in one Caribbean space and all of us here have the right of free movement between the various jurisdictions in the region. So when you travel from here to Barbados or from here to Guyana, or any other country in the Community, you have a right to expect an efficient criminal justice system to attend to your need,” he emphasised.

Justice Anderson said the aggressive and necessary timetable is critical in addressing criminal justice reform.

“We are faced with a very serious challenge. We cannot go on like this and we cannot keep cowering in our houses and places of work because of criminal activity, and at the same time, people who are accused of crime need to face the system in a much more accelerated way. It is very unfair, very unjust to keep people locked up for five or 10 years before they are tried. That is not acceptable, and even though it’s a very aggressive timetable, it’s a very necessary timetable in the view of the Academy,” he stated.

Stakeholders from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) also attended the meeting.