Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says there should be no abolishing of the jury system in the country’s courts without nationwide consultation.
Speaking at the UNC’s National Congress at the party’s South Regional Office yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said her party had considered abolishing juries during their term in government in 2014.
The call for the removal of juries was made by Chief Justice Ivor Archie during the ceremonial opening of the 2016/2017 law term at the Hall of Justice on Friday.
“I will tell you when we were in the Cabinet, when we were in government we considered the abolishing of juries and we had to shelve it,” Persad-Bissessar said yesterday.
“Because there was no consensus, there were views in Parliament that while you could try to intimidate a jury, the jury is made up of many people. But if you try to bribe or intimidate a judge alone, I’m not saying it will happen but it may be easier.”
Referring to her recent crime talks with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, she added, “There are other measures you can take to improve the criminal justice system at this time, some of these include plea bargaining. In the United States, only about ten per cent of their cases go to trial because of plea bargaining and I mentioned that to Keith Rowley in our crime talks.
“We talked about categorising murders as well, that can also assist because they are not always the same in terms of categorising of murders.”
Persad-Bissessar also announced her party’s full slate of candidates for the Local Government election at the Congress and UNC MP’s were made to submit constituency reports on their work in the last year in office.