Things are changing at the courthouse in Newmarket, Ont., where the justice system has long struggled with notoriously big caseloads.
In June,
Law Times reported last week, the courthouse introduced a new triage court for criminal matters. Under that system, the court will hear matters at the preliminary hearing or trial stage at 9 a.m.
If the matter is ready to proceed, it moves to trial or preliminary hearings as long as a courtroom is available. The idea is to deal with pleas and adjournments outside of trial court in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness, says Ministry of the Attorney General spokesman Brendan Crawley.
The new system comes as the Newmarket court and the justice system in general have lagged in meeting the time and efficiency goals set out by the Justice on Target project.
With guilty pleas heard separately at 10 a.m., the hope is the changes will reduce the average amount of time to trial.
There’s no doubt that the effort is laudable, especially as the justice system faces continuing pressures to innovate in order to improve efficiency and cut wait times.
And on the face of it, it’s hard to see how there’s anything wrong with streamlining the way the courts handle matters in order to improve the way they prioritize them.
If the justice system also fixes other aspects of the process, especially timelines around disclosure to the Crown, the changes may provide for faster access to trials. That would certainly be a welcome result.
There is, however, the counter argument that efforts like the triage court and Justice on Target in general are only increasing the pressure on accused people to plead guilty.
As lawyer J.S. Vijaya tells Law Times, the Crown often makes a generous plea offer early in the process with an understanding that it’ll take a harder position later on.
As a result, an accused who knows this — presumably on the advice of a defence lawyer — may jump at the deal by skipping the trial and instead pleading guilty at 10 a.m.
There’s nothing wrong with that if the person is actually guilty. But the justice system needs to carefully balance the drive for efficiency with the integrity of the plea system and the importance of ensuring a just result.
There’s no clear evidence that that balance is out of whack, but it’s something we all need to be mindful of as we look to resolve the backlogs.
— Glenn Kauth
