It was William Gladstone who famously said, "Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Can't argue with that....unless you are the Minister for Courts Rick Barker who begs to disagree.
"Part of justice not being denied is that due process is done appropriately and not rushed."
The time before a court case reaches a resolution was not a delay, but merely part of the justice process, Mr Barker said.
That is his excuse for most jury trials taking over a year to be heard in court.
To reduce the overload on courts ACT's policy is to operate night courts, a practice employed in the US, Canada and Singapore. I don't imagine jury trials could operate outside normal working hours but other court business could be sped up thereby freeing up resource to reduce jury trial waiting times. Let's have some practical solutions to this problem instead of excuses.
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It is my impression that trials in recent years are taking much longer and many more witnesses are being called than in previous years. It must be nearly impossible for juries to make sense of a trial that has taken several weeks and included numerous witnesses giving evidence. It seems that guilt is being established by the quantity of evidence not the quality. This is one area that should be reformed.
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