The Academy’s chairman and chairman of the MEFC, Justice Anderson, as well as his co-chair, the Hon. Mme Justice Yorke-Soo Hon virtually met with the Barbadian Criminal judges on 24th June 2024 to further implement the policies espoused by the Declaration.

The Academy’s chairman and chairman of the MEFC, Justice Anderson, as well as his co-chair, the Hon. Mme Justice Yorke-Soo Hon virtually met with the Bahamian Criminal judges on 17th June 2024 to further implement the policies espoused by the Declaration.

The CCJ Academy for Law will be represented by its Director, the Honourable Justice of Appeal Mira Dean-Armorer and the esteemed Dr. Chantal Ononaiwu at the First Caribbean Strategic Focal Point Meeting of El PACCTO 2.0. This meeting will take place in Barbados on 9 - 11 July. They will present on the Needham’s Point Declaration on Criminal Justice Reform.

Chief Justice Honourable Mde. Louise Esther Blenman is pleased to announce that the Senior Courts of Belize have responded to the recommendations encapsulated by the Caribbean Court of Justice (C.C.J.) Academy for Law’s “Needham Point Declaration on Criminal Justice Reform: Achieving A Modern Criminal Justice System” with the aim to reduce the backlogs in the criminal justice system. 

Among the most recent citations of the Needham’s Point Declaration on Criminal Justice Reform, the Hon. Mr Justice Colin Williams referred to the Declaration in The State v Prisma Joseph DOMHCR20230015. It was used to ground reasoning that undue delay from arrest to trial may merit a sentence reduction for the accused where he is ultimately convicted. In this case, the learned judge determined that a one eighth sentence reduction was appropriate.