NCJ Number
89742
Date Published
1981
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This workshop report focuses on issues pertaining to speedy trial and effective sentencing in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Japan.
Abstract
Several administrative and legislative revisions adopted in Singapore to improve the efficiency and efficacy of judicial processing were described, including (1) the filter court system, which provides for the channeling of cases ready for trial to courts that, for a variety of reasons, might have an opening in their schedule on a given day; (2) the double-fixing method, which involves the preparing of two cases for trial at the same time in the same hearing court, with the provision that should both cases proceed to trial simultaneously, one would be selected and the other channeled for hearing under the filter system; and (3) the substitution of a magistrate with a district judge in the criminal mentions court. The representative from Sri Lanka reported on two innovative legislative revisions in criminal procedure and their impact on the criminal justice system. Problems associated with provisional release without bail and the ensuring of right to counsel in Thailand were discussed, followed by a description of the six sentencing alternatives to incarceration used in Turkey. Inordinate trial delay was noted to be a particular problem in Bangladesh, and 10 causes of such delay were briefly described. The Japan representatives discussed sentencing in traffic accident cases and delay in the trial of public security cases in that country.