During his contribution to the budget debate in the House of Assembly Thursday, Minister Sears said that The Bahamas Integrated Justice Information System will allow persons in the judiciary to access and track files in real time. It will integrate the Attorney General’s Office, the police, the prison, social services and eventually private practitioners. Information will also be shared with probation officers.
It will enable judges or other stakeholders in the judicial system to retrieve files and data in a very efficient and timely manner, Minister Sears said.
The computer system will create a local area network of data on criminal and civil matters that will be accessed by court officials and legal officers. It also allows for the files to be updated from a computer terminal by persons with the appropriate security clearance.
The government hopes that when the system is fully online, it will assist in the efficient disposition of cases.
Minister Sears also said it is the government’s intention to restructure the Supreme Court Registry, “removing the red tape currently encountered there.”
“Many of the delays are due to the common law system that we have inherited and which are in need of modernization to ensure that the system is friendly to users,” he said.
He then revealed that consistent with the recommendations of the Chief Justice, retired Supreme Court Justice Joseph Strachan will be appointed as a Commissioner to review the operations of the Supreme Court Registry with a view to submitting a report of recommendations on its restructuring.
Minister Sears noted that the efficiency of the judiciary is essential to the competitiveness of the country.
“We recognize that we have to promote financial services and tourism,” he said. “But we also have to ensure that for the people who live here, that we have an efficient, fair administration of justice. And for the visitors and investors, they must have the kind of confidence in the administration of justice that any dispute would be resolved expeditiously and fairly.”
Minister Sears said these upgrades must work in tandem with improvements to the physical structure of courts and judicial offices.
He said present facilities are totally inadequate.
Minister Sears noted that the buildings were constructed nearly 100 years ago for a smaller and less sophisticated population. Today, the Supreme Court system functions out of four separate buildings rented by the government for up to half a million dollars each year.
He said the present situation creates “serious logistical, administrative and security problems.”
“The library of the Supreme Court is in one building, but we have Justices sitting in three other buildings and we know that the nature of the judicial work requires access to the library; the need for research,” Minister Sears pointed out.
“There is also a security problem as files from the Registry in the Ansbacher building have to be taken to other buildings. Vital files have to be physically taken throughout the course of the day, thereby raising the possibility of documents being lost or misplaced.”
Meanwhile, a total of $2.2 million has been allocated in the budget for additional courts at the Nassau Street Magistrate’s Complex.
According to Minister Sears, the government has acquired land in the immediate area from Nassau Street to Augusta Street for the construction of additional courts.
“The development and expansion of the Magistrate’s Court complex indicates the government’s awareness of the importance of the Magistrate’s Courts in our national scheme of justice,” Minister Sears said.
He said that for many persons, the Magistrate’s Courts will be their only experience with the judicial system and the government therefore must ensure that those courts remain capable of adequately responding the to needs of the public.
By Hadassah Hall, The Bahama Journal
