It has been reported that criminal cases are behind twelve to eighteen months, civil and commercial matter have a similar backlog, while family court matters are behind nine to twelve months.

Minister of National Security, the Hon. Wayne Munroe recently addressed the current backlog in the judicial system.

He spoke with reporters on the sidelines of a Bahamas Department of Correctional Services event his week on the subject. He said, “the administration of justice, as all Chief Justice says, is a cooperative effort and all the parties have a part in making it run efficiently.”

The Minister suggested that prosecutors should focus on the merits of a case. “So the fact that you can find fifty witnesses to call doesn’t mean that you have to call all fifty of them.”

Munroe shared that defense attorneys should accept cases they are skilled to handle and they trial dates need more efficiency. He said, “I handed something to you, if that is undisputed why do we have to call two people. Today we have a system where you know the trial date well in advance, as you all know, so when you have the trial dates well in advance you have the ability not to seek trial dates that you know will conflict.”

Munroe said the control of cases starts and ends with judges.