DEFENCE LAWYERS ARE "EXPLOITING" WEAK SYSTEM

Finally, someone who talks sense! Let's just hope that the Defence Lawyers now come to the party and get all the baklogged cases up to date - let the wheels of justice start turning for a change, like it is supposed to.

Regards
Nikki

Tania Broughton July 24 2006 at 10:43AM

Senior judges have strongly criticized criminal defence lawyers for contributing to clogged court rolls by deliberately delaying trials and taking advantage of the weaknesses in the criminal justice system. And they urged magistrates and other judges to "crack the whip", note who the culprits are and bring them into line. The censure of the lawyers was a recurring theme at a case flow management seminar held in Durban, and was pinpointed as the "main obstacle" to unclogging the system by KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala, Cape Judge Siraj Desai and others. The seminar was hosted by the provincial integrated justice forum, a body chaired by Judge Achmat Jappie, and representatives of the judiciary, prosecution service, Department of Justice, police and Correctional Services, whose aim is to manage courts effectively to alleviate backlogs and use alternative sentencing options to ease prison overcrowding.

A pilot project implemented at the Durban magistrate's court two years ago has already reduced backlogs significantly, bringing down the number of district court cases enrolled for six months or longer from 771 in August 2004 to 303 in March this year. Speakers said this was in no part due to the criminal lawyers in private practice who, they said, had so far declined to come to the party. Tshabalala said while "case clogging" was exacerbated by the many role players, often cases were adjourned because defence lawyers were not prepared "and it is difficult to control this". He often received correspondence from defence attorneys and advocates complaining about matters being set down for trial too quickly on the High Court rolls. One the reasons for them "dragging their feet", he said, was their clients' inability to pay them. Jappie said anything which reduced court roll backlogs should be embraced because it was to everyone's advantage. "Our difficulty is with those who represent the accused. This is going to be our biggest hindrance. We need to change mindsets. "Very often they do not see it to be in their interests for the trial to go on. "They have other commitments and it takes up too much time in court. "I hope that presiding officers will take the reins and whip those who appear before them into shape to get the trial going and over.

"This article was originally published on page 3 of Pretoria News on July 24, 2006