Barbados Attorney General Dale Marshall has issued a compelling call for enhanced regional legal cooperation during the opening of the two-day Pace Justice Second Attorneys-General Roundtable. Addressing Caribbean legal officials at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Thursday, Marshall emphasized that collective action is imperative for strengthening criminal justice frameworks across the region.
Marshall criticized historical insular approaches to legal challenges, asserting that shared criminal threats demand unified responses. ‘For too many years we have approached our challenges in an siloed manner, when in reality our common challenges require pooled efforts in intellect, processes and institutions,’ he stated.
The Attorney General revealed how Barbados has already successfully implemented regional legal models, avoiding costly trial-and-error approaches. Barbados’ Witness Protection Act, enacted last year, was directly informed by examining legislative frameworks from Jamaica and St. Vincent. Similarly, the nation’s anti-gang legislation incorporates elements from Jamaican and Trinidadian models.
Marshall highlighted concrete outcomes from previous regional collaborations, including Barbados’ recent adoption of plea-bargaining legislation and judge-alone trial provisions. These reforms have already modernized the island’s justice system, with judge-alone trials being utilized in significant cases despite requiring defendant opt-in.
The current roundtable focuses specifically on witness protection programs and anti-gang legislation, which Marshall identified as critical priorities for Barbados. He expressed particular optimism about advancing regional witness protection frameworks during the two-day session, noting that such cooperation enables territories to avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’ when proven legislative solutions already exist within the region.