Attorney General Dale Marshall has defended the government’s efforts to speed up the judicial process, highlighting a significant increase in judges and improvements in case disposal.
Speaking during today’s Estimates debate in Parliament, Marshall responded to concerns raised by Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Hon. David Ishmael, about the slow pace of cases moving through the courts.
Marshall noted that when the administration took office, only two judges handled criminal cases, and they rotated between civil and criminal matters.
“On the criminal division, we only had two judges doing criminal cases, and those two judges would rotate, so they would do criminal cases for part of the year and then they go and do civil,” he explained.
“That meant that you did not have a body of judges who were able to specialize in dealing with criminal cases. When we wrote our manifesto in 2018, we said we were going to appoint two additional judges. We have appointed six more. So we moved from two to a total of eight.”
He pointed out that in 2024 alone, 292 criminal cases were disposed of, a direct result of having more judges and prosecutors.
“In the year 2024, 292 criminal cases were disposed of, an impressive number of criminal cases were disposed of. We are moving through a backlog, we are not going to get through it immediately. But when you can go from two judges doing criminal matters to eight judges doing criminal matters, then you can double the number of people doing prosecutions now to 16. And you can get rid of 292 cases in one year. That can tell you that we are beginning to see a more efficient and a more effective system in relation to criminal cases.”
