In recent years, improved continuous handling of criminal cases

The Law Enforcement Council (the Council) in its report ‘Inspection investigation lead time: the steering, prioritization and monitoring of simple and complex criminal cases in Sint Maarten found that the relevant judicial organisations, namely the Sint Maarten Police Corps (KPSM), the Landsrecherche Sint Maarten (LSM) and the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM), are generally prepared to deal with criminal cases early in favour of a reasonable timeframe. This is despite indirect and external bottlenecks.

Duration of criminal proceedings
The obligation to deal with cases expeditiously in favour of a reasonable period of time applies in an international context and is implemented in local laws and regulations. The reasonable period shall not exceed two years. The fact that an investigation must be initiated at an early stage is one of the factors taken into account by the court in determining whether the reasonable period has been exceeded. The credibility and legitimacy of the investigation and prosecution are therefore served by the efficient conduct of investigations.

On the basis of the figures provided, the interviews conducted and the number of reductions in sentences during the period under review, the Council notes that progress has been steadily improved in the handling of criminal cases in recent years. The organizations studied succeed in this by focusing on prioritizing, directing and monitoring matters, in favour of, inter alia, lead time. This is despite the lack of general framework conditions such as capacity, expertise and resources of the detection services. This affects lead time, especially in more complex cases.

The Council has not been able to see whether or not there is a continuous transition period from and between the organisations and the entire criminal justice chain. It is therefore appropriate to link the registration and the systems used, which is not yet the case.

Recommendations for action
The Council therefore sees potential, particularly as regards the framework conditions for carrying out the work and the registration and systems used. The Council therefore hopes that the seven recommendations made can contribute to a further improvement in the processing time of criminal cases. The Council also considered that if the detection and prosecution could be speeded up, this should be done to the benefit of both suspects and victims.