Conference on model criminal code gets underway in St. Lucia

A two-day consultation on a model criminal code for the sub-regional Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) as well as Bail, Evidence and Jury legislation in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) gets underway in Castries, St. Lucia on Monday.

Organized by Caribbean government

It is being organized by the Canadian government funded Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) Project, in association with the Judicial Education Institute of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

Harmonized criminal code

The organizers said that the discussion of a harmonized Criminal Code is of special importance for the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) because the current situation is that in each of the member states differences in the language creating offences make it difficult for judges, who move between the OECS from time to time, to efficiently deliver justice.

“It is expected that the discussions will lead to the creation of a harmonized Model Criminal Code with accompanying and similarly harmonized criminal law legislation for the consideration of governments within the OECS,” they said.

Among the participants attending the two-day event will be Dame Janice M. Pereira, the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, as well as judges, magistrates, the directors of public prosecution and criminal defense lawyers from the nine-member OECS grouping.

The Canadian High Commissioner to Barbados and the OECS, Marie Legault, as well as Professor Velma Newton, Regional Project Director of the IMPACT will address the final day of the conference.