Mr President, Noble Eight Baar college, Mr Governor, Mr Prime Minister, Madam States President, Mr Minister of Justice, Sir Blanket, Colleagues Court and Procuratorate and all other interested participants, but of course most of all: Honourable Ms. Giesen ,
Today is a very memorable day. A newly installed judge is in fact worth a hearty congratulation. Congratulation which applies the newly installed, family and friends, but also your judgment.
Woody Allen – who does not know him – once said: “Showing up is 80% of the success in your life” Mrs. Giessen, you Showed up, so with the success in your life, it should be alright.
Sitting on a plant like this, the Prosecution always three tasks: • The formal task to commandeer. I’ve just done. • The pleasant duty to congratulate. I’ve also just done. • Then finally the responsible task – often over the head of a newly installed right away – to present a balanced picture of an important current topic, preferably legal nature.
However, Mr President, experience has shown that these ceremonial sessions vast majority of attendees are not in the room waiting for long stories, but in the drink. I will therefore try to keep my story short.
A judge, ladies and gentlemen, is an extremely important task and that task has been determined over the years not become easier.
In the 19th century was the judge deviate as little as possible of the law. Namely, that law gave legal certainty and legal equality. Judges – as was the view – did therefore not much else to do than to apply the written law to a specific case.
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But there were (and are) but few rules are so clear. The court must do much more than simply establish the facts and the simple determination of the relevant law. To speak with Corstens (for non-lawyers among us: Corstens is a former law professor and former president of HR): “The form of law is slowly molded into an endless and painstaking process.”
That makes it natural to work in the law a lot more fun than just establish the facts and relevant rules.
But we also live in a time and in a country where both the press and many citizens expanded fitting an opinion on sentences and even on ongoing lawsuits. Lawyers go into depth, looking at the detail. The press, the media and many citizens want the ‘quick and dirty’.
We live in a complex, distributed, edgy, discerning society; everyone expects a response to any incident. We live in an administrative context which is characterized by catchwords like cuts and instability. We live in a country with as much professional helmsmen ashore as there are people. The independence, integrity, objectivity and competence of the ‘own’ judges openly – questioned – sometimes even by lawyers.
The law is gradually come to be the focus of attention. You can say that the black gown (in a metaphorical sense) is exchanged for a glass specimen. Does this work in the law better? That is, depending on the individual judges. Some judges thrive better in glass than in black, so to speak. That’s for prosecutors no different. Fact is, I think that these developments the position of judge and that an officer has made a lot heavier than it imagined before.
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When I go to my own organization OM look, it brings everything that is rightly expect that the OM is continuously changing and evolving. Will Rogers, an American entertainer from the beginning of the last century, aptly put it: “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll still get run over if you just sit there”
The prosecution will always continue to evolve and will with interventions that are visible, noticeable and recognizable, make the appropriate contribution to a safe society. However, the application of criminal law is repressive in nature; afterwards, by definition, and thus only a limited effect in the prevention of crime. Expectations regarding the impact of criminal justice interventions alone are often too high. Criminal law is not able to solve all security problems.
Therefore the OM the years to take the initiative to actively seek consultation and cooperation with partners to establish a joint intervention and prevention strategy.
The ambition of the PPS is to provide an effective contribution to a safe and just society and offering solid guarantees for a sound democracy.
The uncomfortable reality is that the desired results despite all the efforts have not been so far. The strategy of the OM or to achieve those results is built on three pillars: • (further) development of an integrated approach, • improving the connection and communication with the community, and • (further) development of a professional OM- organization.
It is a given that the resources available for investigation and prosecution are scarce. The economic reality of Sint Maarten there will not change in the coming years. The starting point must therefore be done with the same (human and financial) resources more.
Interventions have a greater social impact if it does occur isolated but are part of a broad collaborative integrated approach to network security.
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Specifically: a combined effort of the capacity, quality, diversity and selectivity of all partners, with other strategies than investigating and prosecuting the classic criminal.
What partners are we talking? You need to think of the public administration, the various enforcement agencies, the (semi) public and private parties in society. Precisely these public-private partnerships with commitment from all partners is the integral approach vigorously.
The connection and communication with the community is essential for the success of such an approach. Apathy, resignation and cynicism must be replaced by the involvement of citizens, businesses, social organizations and media, focusing on a culture of legality and justice. ” Criminal action has only a temporary effect, unless society itself collectively lawlessness deprecating and based on shared values.
The fact is that the support of the OM is far too narrow to get this for each other. We try to find the connection to partners with authority and moral leadership in the world of churches, schools, community centers, volunteer organizations, sports clubs, etc. The involvement of the civil society organizations as partners in addressing security issues, sustainable effect will be achieved.
This requires a different OM for years to come. OM networking which will detect and prosecute. OM that invests in communications, in explaining his actions in spreading the message. But also an OM that must professionalize further: • In-house expertise (training and courses, expertise, specializations spread across countries, private officer) • In care (interests, handling victims, adequate administration) • In efficiency (energetic settlement, effective execution, alternative settlements) • Add transparency (to explain what we do and why we do it)
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Of course, this will not go without a fight. Of course, citizens, partners, our lawyers point to concrete things that they think wrongly or not properly or have been arrested. And not or do not belong in a given approach. Of course mistakes will be made. Nothing human is alien to us.
Even judges are not exempt from making mistakes. I would like to point to the right (obviously not your Court), which several years shall minutes of perjury wanted to arise against a male witness who stated below in court oath that he had a brother, and sister of the witness that same morning had stated that it had two under oath.
Mrs. Giesen, welcome to the small legal community of St. Maarten, welcome back to the criminal justice after so many years in the administrative and immigration law, I am convinced that such mistakes will not occur to you!
Thank you for your attention.