Dear Members,

Criminal Justice Sector Reform Committee is continuing to seek the interests of our membership and the national community in the area of criminal justice sector reform.

We would be grateful for your feedback and comments, via the link below, on the following areas.

1. Criminal Procedure Rules

At the last Bench/Bar meeting the Acting Chief Justice asked if the Law Association could provide some feedback from the practitioners on how these rules were working. Please let us know what your experience has been in the operation of these procedural rules.

2. Bail

The Association at the last Bench/Bar meeting raised concerns about the processing of bail by Clerks of the Peace in the various jurisdictions. Our information is that in some cases bail is taking seven to eight days to be processed and that practitioners are experiencing difficulty in having bail processed because of the demands by clerks of the peace. Please share your experiences with us so that we can work with the stakeholders to secure improvements in this area.

3. Review of Legislation.

Members would have recently been circulated with a copy of the Indictable Offences (Pre-Trial Procedure) Bill 2018 that intends to abolish preliminary inquiries. We are in the process of compiling comments on this legislation and would appreciate the comments of those who practice in the criminal arena.

There are other pieces of legislation on the Government’s legislative agenda. The LATT will circulate these Bills when we are informed that they are coming up for debate and will seek your comments as they are needed. We cannot guarantee that the Parliament will adopt wholesale the comments of the LATT but we are committed to fulfilling our duty to contribute to the debate on legislation which touches and concerns the practice of law in Trinidad and Tobago.

4. Meetings with Stakeholders

The Criminal Justice Reform Committee intends to hold meetings with the following persons/entities between October and December 2018:

Chief Magistrate

Head of Legal Aid

Commissioner of Prisons

Head of Court and Process

Judiciary Builders and Users Forums

We are compiling a list of issues which we wish to discuss with these stakeholders however, and would like to give members an opportunity to send to us any concerns they may have that relate to these stakeholders so that we may raise them in a hope that they will be resolved.

https://goo.gl/forms/rEynlatVoav7sq0G3

Best regards,
Rajiv Persad
Vice President