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Bermuda hailed as leader in ‘problem-solving’ courts
A judge with the Caribbean Court of Justice said Bermuda had proven itself to be a leader in the region when it came to implementing “problem-solving” courts.
Justice Peter Jamadar, chairman of the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers, said that other jurisdictions were learning from Bermuda’s example.
He noted the island’s introduction of speciality courts to address mental health, drug treatment and impaired driving.
The Government announced in this month’s Throne Speech that it had started work to introduce a speciality court focused on domestic violence cases.
“Bermuda has independently been developing these courts and they are a model for what can be done with relatively limited resources, judicial innovation and pioneering spirit,” Mr Justice Jamadar said.
“Bermuda is a leader in the Caribbean. Other Caribbean jurisdictions are doing it but we are learning from Bermuda.”
Mr Justice Jamadar is one of a number of Caribbean judges and court officials who have come to Bermuda this week as part of the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers’ 8th Biennial Conference, being held at the Hamilton Princess and Beach Club.
Discussions planned for topics range from handling high-profile cases, potential uses for artificial intelligence and ensuring access to justice.
Mr Justice Jamadar said the body’s mission was to bring together judicial officers to facilitate communication and education.
“The idea came out of the Caribbean Court of Justice, which recognised there was a need to get judicial officers together,” he said. “At the heart of CAJO is the different states have a lot in common.”
In addition to the biennial conference, Mr Justice Jamadar said CAJO offered educational opportunities to judicial officers in the region, both in person and through online sessions.
Justice Adrian Saunders, the President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, said most of the English-speaking Caribbean had a shared “inheritance of law” dating back to colonisation, and still had similar constitutions.
As such, judiciaries in the various countries are well-positioned to collaborate and share solutions to the challenges that face them.
“One jurisdiction might have a particular challenge that has already been addressed by another,” Mr Justice Saunders said. “If we all operated out of silos, we wouldn’t necessarily know that.
“CAJO offers us the opportunity to discuss the challenges that we have and exchange information.”
Mr Justice Saunders said that one of the priorities was removing barriers to justice throughout the region.
“These barriers exist particularly seriously for vulnerable groups,” Mr Justice Saunders said.
Another area of discussion in the region has been the introduction in other countries of judge-only high-court trials.
Mr Justice Jamadar said that while high-court criminal trials were historically only ever conducted before a jury under the “inherited” legal model, several jurisdictions in the Caribbean had made a move towards trials before a judge alone.
He said: “That has been, in a way, resisted, controversial and lawyers were not sure if they wanted that, but in all of the jurisdictions, in every Magistrates’ Court, it’s a judge-alone trial.
“It’s just not called a judge. It’s called a magistrate.
“They are doing everything and they are doing serious criminal matters.”
Puisne Judge Shade Subair Williams said that there had been some discussions in Bermuda about the possibility of introducing such trials to the island’s Supreme Court.
“We have had meetings with defence council and with prosecutors, just in contemplation of what that might look like,” Mrs Justice Subair Williams said.
“That is a discussion I don’t think we would have had or even considered in the first instance if we could not reference other Caribbean Association courts and how they have adopted these measures.”
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