Dominica’s DPP to legal colleagues: Take a stand for the law amidst ‘senseless’ violence

Director of Public Prosecutions Sherma Dalrymple has issued a call to members of the legal fraternity to advocate respect for the law by drawing a hard line against senseless killings in the small island states.

She made her assertions during the opening ceremony of the new Law Year held at the State House Conference Centre this week.

“I plead with you colleagues, with you honourable judges, with court workers, court administrators, defense counsel, prosecutors, to fully understand what we have to make the law respectable,” she said. “We have to take a stance against the senseless killings in our small island states.”

She continued, “We have to make the law be respected.”

Dalrymple believes that bar associations need to speak out.

“The public ought to be educated by attorneys on the law and the repercussions of breaches of the law,” she stated. “The court needs to take a clear stance against these violent offenses and apply the law.”

This, she said, is a unified approach, “which I know that we can do.”

“We have to be active participants in the process. We can’t wait until it reaches the courtroom. When an accused is before the court,  by this time a life has been taken, a family is grieving,  an individual’s liberty is at stake,” she emphasized. “ We can’t sit in the comfort of our bar association meetings, and don’t bring up these societal problems.”

Dalrymple added, “Are we to continue attending OECS conferences and meetings and not consider that we ought to start to put proper protocols,  guidelines, and new laws in place to deal with these problems?”

Furthermore, she noted that members of the legal profession have been trained to understand that the law commands respect.

“The laws of the land are to be respected, but we as the custodians of the law ought to make the law respectable,” she encouraged. “ We need to be in active pursuit and not leave it up to society to only do reinforcing of the law. Police, we should actively participate in shaping the legal framework.”

Meanwhile, she said gun violence continues to deeply affect the small island states.

“Let’s consider our social context that our small states are now facing. Instances of gun violence run as a disease within our states,” she remarked.  “Times of festivities,  carnival,  Christmas,  village feasts,  committee cultural events have the dark shadow lurking of a gun crime being perpetuated.”

Dalrymple argued that the news and social media regularly bring shock waves into the various communities with stories of violent gun-related offences.

“Phrases such as: ‘double murders’,  ‘man gunned down’,  ‘shooting claims the life of…’,  ‘police investigating the shooting death of…’, ‘ young men in critical condition after sustaining gunshot wounds’ are plastered on the media way too often in these times,” she stated.

She pointed out that the OECS member states have robust legislative frameworks with respect to firearms offences,  including the firearms acts, anti-gang legislation, and also sentencing guidelines which make provision for deterrence from violence, with good reason.

“However, we ought not to be sidetracked and put the blame only on members of society and not us,” Dalrymple indicated.

She continued, “We ought not to jump to the conclusion that individuals don’t respect the law.  Consider,  are we making the law respectable?  Are we, as administrators of the justice system,  advocating against the plague which is affecting our small island states?”