Chief Justice Outlines Goal to Finish Criminal Cases Within Three Years

The Full Story

The Guardian reported Chief Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh’s ambition at the first anniversary of his appointment. It is a hoped-for outcome, not a rule or guarantee for each case. The Judiciary convened a backlog-reduction dialogue in February, and the Chief Justice described process and accountability reforms in June. In September he said a targeted plan was addressing the oldest cases and 15 criminal jury courtrooms were functional.

Sources: Judiciary, 9 Feb ↗ · Chief Justice address, 12 Jun ↗ · 103.1FM, 9 Sep ↗ · Trinidad Guardian, 23 Oct ↗

The February Judiciary meeting brought justice-system stakeholders together; the June address called for timely, fair, reasoned outcomes and better monitoring. September’s reported 15 courtrooms are capacity, not a count of cases completed. The September plan specifically addresses old cases, whereas the new two-to-three-year aspiration appears to concern the full criminal-case journey.

Sources: Judiciary, 9 Feb ↗ · Chief Justice address, 12 Jun ↗ · 103.1FM, 9 Sep ↗

The target follows several public steps during 2026. The Judiciary brought justice-sector participants together in February to discuss the criminal backlog, and the Chief Justice’s June address stressed timely, fair decisions and better process accountability. In September, he described a plan for the oldest cases and said 15 criminal jury courtrooms were functional. Those are inputs and reform intentions, not proof that a typical case now ends within two or three years. The October statement is a measure to test against future published case-age and disposal data, not a deadline already imposed on every court.

Sources: Judiciary, 9 Feb ↗ · Chief Justice address, 12 Jun ↗ · 103.1FM, 9 Sep ↗ · Trinidad Guardian, 23 Oct ↗

Evidence and Context

These measures connect a broad ambition to concrete levers: case triage, court capacity and coordination among prosecutors, defence and judiciary. But the time between charge and final disposition cannot be inferred from the number of open courtrooms. Pending cases, incoming cases, dispositions and the age of the oldest cases need to be tracked together; otherwise clearing old matters can make a short-term average look worse even while reducing injustice.

Defendants, complainants and witnesses could benefit from shorter, more predictable waits if cases are prepared fairly. Capacity without prosecution disclosure, defence access and dependable scheduling may simply move delay to another stage. No current baseline or funded timetable in the cited material establishes when the ambition could be achieved.