The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Justice has in the past discussed development of the infrastructure required for judges. It has been revealed that the digitisation of the judiciary has already begun and an agreement has been reached with the relevant technological service providers to conduct Court meetings through e-filing system and video conference system. It is expected to strengthen the Mediation Board. It was also revealed that steps have been taken to establish land mediation boards in several areas including to resolve land disputes. Several expert committees have been set up to reform the Judicial System and the report of the committee set up under the chairmanship of Supreme Court Judge Samayawardena was received.
It has been said in Parliament that there were 1,104,458 cases being heard in Courts.
The Attorney General’s Department meanwhile, is currently handling about 40, 000 cases with a limited number of staff. The Government Analyst’s Department had received 10, 491 suspected drug samples for testing.
The writer argues for a Justice Audit to understand what justice means in Sri Lanka and the current standards and systems in different sectors of the justice system.
Specifically:
*To arrive at a situation analysis of the justice sector during the period 2005 to 2015
*To identify gaps and challenges in the justice sector
*To design a blueprint for reform from April, 2015 onwards with sectoral work plans
*To set up a Committee to guide and monitor the implementation of the work plan
Sectors for assessment
*Administration of Justice – Judiciary and judicial process, Court processes
* Law enforcement – Police
* Access to justice
*Prosecutions Attorney General’s Department
*Private Bar
*Legal aid
*Mediation
*Probation and Childcare
*Administrative process – Ministry of Justice
The process includes the following:
Stage 1- Desk Research
The literature review is expected to:
*provide an overview of the justice sector
*summarise the lessons learned from earlier reform initiatives
*capture good practices that have been developed
Stage 2 – Data Gathering
1.A profile of each institution in terms of:
*Its statutory framework, hierarchy/organisational set up, powers, staffing
*Levels (established and filled), terms and conditions of service, training
*Promotion, budget, oversight and complaints mechanisms
*‘Mapping’ the physical location of institutions around the country
*Mapping of how institutional linkages that exist which join up the system as a whole
*Public and professional surveys
2.Sectoral data
Police
lCrime figures (complaints, prosecutions, convictions; typology of offences; rates and trends)
lCase management (procedure on arrest and detention, discretionary powers of Police – caution, bail, diversion, referral – measures for dealing with victims of crime, young offenders and other vulnerable groups, time management (average times: from arrest to Court (law and practice), from arrest to charge, from arrest to trial, from arrest to disposal)
Legal service providers
lMap the provision of legal services – delivery mechanisms, actors and budget(s)
lProfile access to legal advice and assistance (in law/practice, at all stages of the criminal justice system) and identify unmet needs
lProfile the application of ADR in the community, by way of diversion from the justice system, at court
lCase management (procedures; ratio of cases to legal service providers: at police, court, prisons and community; co-ordination mechanisms between the justice actors)
Prosecutions (AG’s Department)
lCase load (by Court type, typology of offences, trends; ratio of prosecutors to caseload)
lCase management (procedures and discretionary powers, police/prosecution co-ordination; possibilities of referral to ADR; time management (average times: from charge to start of trial, from start of trial to end of trial, from end of trial to appeal hearing); conviction rate)
Courts at all levels (with JSC)
lCase load (current/pending, trends – last ten years – by court type, rural/urban, typology of offences, ratio of judges to caseload, adequacy of Court space/time)
lCase management (procedures – esp. pre-trial – discretionary powers and co-ordination mechanisms with other justice actors; time management (average times: from first appearance to disposal, from arraignment to trial, of trial, from trial to appeal); conviction rate; appeals (conviction/sentence).
Corrections
*Prison numbers (established capacity/total population at national level and individual facilities; trends in growth of prison population)
*Prison numbers disaggregated (totals – i.e.: population, remand, convicted; women, men, young persons; age range; status: single/married, economic, employment, education; percentage of prisoners charged with/convicted of ‘serious’ offences (i.e. over 2-3 years); percentage of prisoners with a history of mental illness
*Process issues: prisoners’ access to legal advice/representation (and other rights issues such as healthcare); average times: spent on remand (awaiting trial), under trial, between conviction and appeal; access to bail; consistency in sentencing.
Probation
*Case load (order made by Court, ratio of probation officers to probationers; typology of offences/offender)
*Case management (procedures; average length of an order; completion rates, reoffending rates)
Stage 3 – Sectoral Explorations, review of data and information and producing of reports
This segment is done by way of sectoral meetings with experts. The outcome of these would be the production of a series of sectoral papers creating a situation analysis, identifying gaps and producing a blueprint for the future including a work plan.
Examples of data collection
Police data
Infrastructure
*list all Police Stations (regional, district and Police posts) and location;
Resources
*set out the total number of Police
*by unit: patrol, investigation, public order, other specialist units;
*rank;
*gender (especially at senior levels);
* ethnicity (especially at senior levels);
* level of turn-over of staff;
Case management
*set out in a table the caseload for previous year(s) showing:
* of complaints received/incidents reported
* of Investigations
* of Arrests
* of Prosecutions
* of Diversions
* of cases pending at year end
Prosecution data
Case management
* set out the caseload for previous year(s) showing: by Court/prosecutor;
* new cases
* referred back to Police
* dismissed/not proceeded with
* diverted
* prosecuted
*convicted on Guilty plea
* convicted after trial
* appealed
* pending
(end year)
* set out the trends in new case load and annual case disposal (5-10 years);
*list the five most commonly prosecuted types of offences;
* disaggregate (where possible) accused persons by social and or educational status;
* record any guidelines or criteria on the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in cases involving children.
Jeevan Thiagarajah
