Attorney General Dale Marshall will soon be taking to Parliament new pieces of legislation, including one on witness anonymity.

Mr. Marshall made the disclosure today as he addressed Day Two of the three-day symposium on Addressing Backlogs and Delays in the Barbados Criminal Justice System, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

The Attorney General told those present: “I expect to be able to take to Parliament, within the next few weeks, witness anonymity legislation, amendments to the Jury’s Act, and one or two other criminal justice amendments, all of which, when taken together, are intended to lubricate this wheel of criminal justice.”

He reminded his audience that an intense dialogue on criminal justice reform across the Caribbean and Barbados had begun, with the island hosting several conferences on criminal justice reform within recent years.

“We have had our own symposium on criminal justice, [and] criminal procedure rules, and arising out of those sessions, a number of legislative initiatives have already begun to bear fruit.

“One of the recommendations from our early symposiums, Chief Justice, was the enacting of legislation for Judge Alone Trials. We’ve been able to do that, and there were other initiatives that were proposed, and we have been able to check those boxes. There are still a few more to come,” Mr. Marshall shared.

He underscored the importance of the criminal justice reform, saying it was vital, as he pointed out that The Barbados Police Service has had to deal with gun-related homicides and other issues on a regular basis.

He said one of the possible causes might be that the delays in the criminal justice system have allowed the criminal minded to feel that he has time. “Our purpose is to make sure that we truncate that time so that they understand that the punishment must come swiftly,” the Attorney General stated.

Mr. Marshall stressed that the three-day symposium is not a talk shop but it “is about action”, and its importance would be seen and felt perhaps in six to eight months. The symposium, which ends tomorrow, was hosted by Government; the Inter-American Development Bank; European Union; Pace Justice and UNDP. (PR/GIS)

Caption: Attorney General Dale Marshall (centre) in discussion with Justice of Appeal of the Appeal Court of Trinidad and Tobago, Ronnie Boodoosingh (left) and Chief Justice of Barbados, Leslie Haynes.