Timeliness is necessary to the achievement of justice.
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1. Delay is a common failure of justice systems throughout history and in all places. 2. Delay is a feature of the architecture of justice systems and not a bug or symptom of dysfunction. 3. Delay has been a factor in the flight from the courts. 4. The costs of delay are understated, overlooked and subordinated to other justice values. 5. The calls for additional …
Continue reading Top 10 Lessons of Delay and Timeliness in Justice
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Timeliness is integral to justice. Despite the necessary and ongoing debate about the ends of justice, there is common agreement that justice requires practical expression. Disraeli’s helpful definition of justice as truth in action includes an element of delivery.
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A criminal defence lawyer once observed waggishly that for many of his clients delayed justice…. Was justice. In civil cases it can often be inferred that there is an asymmetric approach to timeliness: often one of the parties would rather not see justice rendered expeditiously. For those few clients engaged regularly in the resolution of disputes timeliness carries very real costs and consequences which might …
Does delay affect different groups in substantially different ways? If so, should constitutional guarantees of trial within “a reasonable time” result in different standards for different groups? The Supreme Court of Canada, in R. v. K.J.M., 2019 SCC 55 answered yes to the first question, putting significant emphasis on the subjective and practical experience of delay on young offenders. However, it answered no to the second question …
Continue reading Delay Is A Terrible Thing. But It’s Not The Only Thing.
When is a case of delay simply an exception and when does it suggest something systemic and more troubling? In the history of debates over delay, extreme cases have often met with the observation they are rare. After all, most of us engaged daily in the system believe that our justice system strives towards timely justice. One can easily find examples of extreme cases in …
In 1988, nearly a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leonard Forte was convicted in Vermont of repeatedly raping and molesting his daughter’s twelve-year-old friend. Ten months later, the trial judge ordered a retrial on the basis the female prosecutor was “overly emotional” in her conduct of the case. Thirty years later, Forte was living in Florida, having never faced a new trial. …
How do we overcome the obvious—and not obvious—obstacles to achieving timeliness in the justice system? One question of method is whether we should pursue incremental or dramatic change. There is evidence for both. Many faced with the failure of dramatic programs to find acceptance have opted to pursue smaller, incremental improvements. This debate carries on across many policy landscapes. Perhaps the most obvious concerns environmental …
