The corrupters of the judicial system
tribune242 editorial
IN 1981 then Attorney General Paul Adderley considered a court system not in tune with the society in which it functioned, lawyers with neither a good nor high reputation, and corrupters of the system as part of this country's problems in getting criminals off the streets.
On the floor of the same House from which Mr Adderley had made that observation 30 years before, Prime Minister Ingraham advised politicians to distance themselves from criminals.
"The stark reality is that we did not reach the current level of crime overnight.
"And our attitude towards crime makes a difference. Complaining about crime, yet aiding and abetting criminal behaviour hurts our shared fight against crime," Mr Ingraham said.
"The less tolerant and accommodating we are of criminal enterprise and behaviour, the more effective will be our fight against crime.
"The entire society has an obligation to assist the police in doing their jobs."
Mr Adderley was of the opinion that the police were not getting the assistance they needed from the courts. He believed the judicial system was demonstrating more sympathy for the law-breaker than for the long suffering public.
Mr Adderley criticised the category of people who perpetrate acts of corruption -- influence peddlers and people seeking permission by paying off someone.
Lawyers, he said, among other professions, fall into this category.
"For the most part," said Mr Adderley, "the vast majority of lawyers are entitled to a good and high reputation, but those who are entitled to a good and high reputation do not have either a good or a high reputation because there are some lawyers who have an atrociously bad reputation who are entitled to neither a good nor a high reputation.
"By the conduct of a relatively small number of lawyers in the Bahamas, lawyers generally today have a low reputation.
"This is to be attributed to those lawyers who belong in the category of the corrupt."
He also had something to say about the category of lawyers who charge clients "outrageously, almost criminally high fees."
He then moved to those -- especially drug dealers -- who bribed the courts.
"One of the most corrupting influences on the total system is the amount of money which is in the hands of the drug traffickers," he said.
As attorney general he found it necessary to have drug cases put in a distinct category.
Two years before he felt he had justifiable reasons to give directives to magistrate's court prosecutors that any case involving drugs could not be withdrawn without the consent of the Office of the Attorney General.
He knew of "prevalent incidents" that justified his decision "because some way along the way the system had been corrupted."
Even juries in the Bahamas were bought, he said, but unfortunately, sufficient evidence could not be found to prosecute.
We leave it to our readers to judge whether much has changed in the profession since Mr Adderley's 1981 observations.
What he as Attorney General complained of in 1981 remains among the many problems that make the fight against crime difficult today.
June 08, 2011
tribune242 editorial
A political blog about Bahamian politics in The Bahamas, Bahamian Politicans - and the entire Bahamas political lot. Bahamian Blogger Dennis Dames keeps you updated on the political news and views throughout the islands of The Bahamas without fear or favor. Bahamian Politicians and the Bahamian Political Arena: Updates one Post at a time on Bahamas Politics and Bahamas Politicans; and their local, regional and international policies and perspectives.
