News > Attorney General John Delaney Addresses Lunch and the Law 2010
Attorney General John Delaney Addresses Lunch and the Law 2010 Shortcomings in the Bahamian judicial system are eroding public confidence in the system of justice, Attorney General and Minister of the Justice, Senator the Hon. John Delaney admitted while addressing Lunch and the Law on Friday, February 26th. Senator Delaney was the keynote speaker at the event, organized by the Law Library Branch, Libraries and Instructional Media Services Department, under the theme "Crisis of Confidence: The State of Relations between the Public and the Bahamian legal system". While delivering his address, the Attorney General also invited The College of The Bahamas to collaborate with his office to conduct research on the public's perceptions of the legal system. "The theme you have chosen is thought provoking and challenging, yet also the opposite," he said. "Critical commentary in the media on the state of the legal system, especially the criminal justice system, has become commonplace. Not only does the topic force us to put the functioning of the legal system under a microscope, it draws out important notions of law and society, democracy, governance, justice and the functioning of the body politic. Obviously this matter requires serious and full consideration." According to Minister Delaney, the backlog of court cases resulting in prosecutorial delays; the need for new court buildings; prison overcrowding and the public perception that serious offenders are granted bail too easily are among the deficiencies that need to be corrected. "The [judicial] system is designed in a way so as to in engender public confidence. I have to confess that there are key deficiencies, some of the matters which are said to pose the greatest challenges to maintain public confidence," explained Senator Delaney. Currently, the Attorney General's Office is reviewing the backlog of cases with the intent to close cases that may no longer be feasible for prosecution and is considering a more aggressive scheduling of criminal cases for trial in the Supreme Court and an increase of the number of criminal courts allocated. To address infrastructure challenges, a new Magistrate Court Complex is currently under construction, renovations to existing Supreme Court Buildings are pending and there are plans to acquire additional property to construct new Supreme Court buildings and a second Coroner's Court. Lunch and The Law also attracted a cross-section of prominent individuals from the legal profession for an engaging panel discussion on the event's theme. Participants included: Elsworth Johnson, tutor, Eugene Dupuch Law School Legal Aid Clinic; Caryl Lashley, Chairperson of the Ethics Committee of the Bahamas Bar Association; Ruth Bowe-Darville, President of the Bahamas Bar Association and Jeanne Thompson, Retired Supreme Court Justice and Acting Director of the Eugene Dupuch Law School Legal Aid Clinic. "Lunch and the Law" is an annual event that aims to heighten awareness of developments in the evolving practice of law within the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, through stimulating, productive, intellectual discussions among attorneys, law students, other legal professionals and the general public.
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