Why a failed justice system costs businesses
Recently, the head of the Roman Catholic Church of Trinidad and Tobago, Archbishop Joseph Harris, led a petition “seeking to free remand prisoners who have been behind bars longer than the maximum prison term they would have gotten if they had been found guilty of their crimes”. In 2014, World Prison Brief estimated the prison population in Trinidad and Tobago at 3,481, and that as many as 59% of this population was being held on remand. The Archbishop requested the clergy to encourage parishioners to sign this petition as it may “concretise the year of mercy” in their jurisdiction (The T&T Guardian Newspaper April 25, 2016). Current Attorney-General Faris Al-Rawi, who supports the Archbishop’s initiative, commented that “12 percent or 268 people who have been charged for lesser offences including child maintenance and traffic offences”, could benefit from this pardon.
In Trinidad and Tobago, and in almost every Commonwealth Caribbean country, there are long delays in administering justice, which has resulted in higher rates of detention in overcrowded prisons, with both prisoners and prison staff enduring deplorable conditions. Former Chief Justice Sharma of Trinidad and Tobago described these conditions as “disgusting and sickening” (Newsday, September 17, 2004). Research confirms that in many instances, remand prisoners who are unable to participate in any prison programmes due to their unconvicted status, are held in these conditions for longer periods than they would have been given when eventually sentenced.
Delayed justice is not in keeping with fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, which guarantees “the right to be brought promptly before an appropriate judicial authority” for persons who have been arrested or detained (Cap.1, Pt. 1, S.4(b)). It should be noted that these rights are similarly enshrined in the constitutions of other Commonwealth Caribbean countries.
Both UNDP (in its First Caribbean Human Development Report in 2012) and the World Bank (“Socioeconomic Costs of Crime” www.worldbank.org) have warned that high rates of crime are adversely affecting development in our region. These spiralling rates are not only attributable to a dearth of crime prevention programmes, but to a failure to implement effective social reintegration programmes for prisoners, which inevitably results in high recidivism rates. Both state and non-state actors bear some responsibility for this phenomenon. While the state bears primary responsibility for the care of prisoners, the public and private sectors have failed to invest the necessary human and financial resources for materials for skills training, educational programmes for prisoners and prison officers, and capacity building for prison staff. In addition, many civil society groups have not shown much interest in working with prison administrations to assist with the development and implementation of in-prison and post-release programmes. In most instances, civil society groups are unable to assist with these programmes since they lack the necessary financial resources. Perhaps, this is an area where corporate entities could help.
The World Bank found that crime has a detrimental effect on tourism arrivals in the Caribbean, “discourages business investment, and stifles economic growth” (www.worldbank.org). For instance, while no data was available for Trinidad and Tobago, findings indicated “that Haiti and Jamaica could boost economic growth per capita by 5.4 percent per year if they were to bring their homicide rates down to the levels of Costa Rica. Guyana and the Dominican Republic would also benefit substantially, with potential growth rate increases of 1.7 percent and 1.8 percent respectively”. The 2012 UNDP report states that CARICOM estimates placed the annual direct expenditure on crimes by gangs (primarily composed of young people) to be between 2.8 percent and four percent of GDP in five CARICOM countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago), due to the high cost of policing coupled with lost income caused by the imprisonment of youth and the drop in tourism rates. Both state and non-state actors would welcome economic growth during this current global economic recession.
David Jessop re-affirmed in his article “Crime has an adverse effect on Caribbean development” in Stabroek News (January 27, 2013), that a number of reports indicated that crime not only causes human suffering, “but it can cause capital flight, the loss of those with skills or education who prefer to work in a more certain environment, and changes for the worse in the perception of a nation’s investment climate”. He further stated that “studies by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the University of the West Indies and others show that crime also is having a negative effect on social development by diverting limited resources away from health and education to security, the control of crime and the provision of facilities necessary for the administration of justice”.
It is clear that failure to invest in curbing crime rates, whether they be at the primary and secondary levels (preventive), or tertiary level (investing in social reintegration programmes for prisoners), will adversely affect businesses and negatively impact development in our region. For instance, Attorney- General Faris Al-Rawi said: “it costs $20,000 to $25,000 a month to maintain someone who may not have been able to pay a $12,000 fine. In addition, the state spends 80 million dollars a year moving remand yard prisoners to and from courts across T&T. The estimated cost includes having a prosecutor assigned to each case, a police officer, health costs and others. If the 12 percent on lesser offences were to benefit from the request by the Catholic Church that would be roughly 270 prisoners, there would be a saving of $6.75 million per month”.
Perhaps the time for making a change is now. With the current global economic decline, the crime situation can only worsen if left unchecked. Certainly, it is time for the judiciary to give serious consideration to speeding up the trial process for remand prisoners; for Caribbean governments to re-prioritise their budgetary allocations; and for corporate entities to re-assess where and how they are implementing their social programmes.