Issued by: Department of Justice
PRE-TRIAL SERVICES OFFICE TO OPEN AT DURBAN MAGISTRATE'S COURT ON 8TH MAY 1998 IN DURBAN
Durban is the third of five courts around the country where a Pre-trial Service office will be opened, with the help of the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Pre-trial Services offices(PTS) have already been opened, with much success in Mitchells Plain and Johannesburg. Pre-trial Services is an innovative new system responsible for screening and tracking alleged offenders and providing court-based services to witnesses. The Pre-trial Services office will ensure that accused persons who appear in the Durban Magistrate's Court will be less likely to escape the justice system, intimidate witnesses, or fail to return to court when they are expected. Ultimately Pre-trial services will lead to more convictions and fewer delays in the justice system.
It is the Justice Department's aim to find better methods of making bail decisions that keep the dangerous criminal elements in, and the petty offenders out of prison. To do this, reliable information is needed. Hence, the Pre-trial Services system provides the court with this information, focussing on two critical areas: (1) demographic details, including community ties, addresses, job and salary information, and references; (2) previous convictions or wanted information from SA Police Services. The Pre-trial Services offices aims to ensure that the courts are armed with verified, up-to-date details about each accused person prior to the first appearance. Bail officers interview and photograph every accused person in order to collect demographic details. for example, over 10 000 persons have been interviewed by the Pre-trial Services officers since the launch of the system in august 1997.
An exciting component of Pre-trial Services is the collaboration between police and justice officials, in accordance with the National Crime Prevention Strategy. With the linking of National Criminal Records Centre of the SAPS to the Pre-trial services offices a court has direct access to the previous convictions or wanted status of accused persons before bail decisions are made. Already, the PTS office has picked up a number of accused persons who are wanted or who have committed crimes in other jurisdictions.
An underlying benefit of this system is its potential impact on the country's prisons, currently bursting at the seems. Prior to the opening of the office in Mitchells Plain, 75% of those prisoners awaiting trial at Pollsmoor Prison were granted bail. Almost half of this group had bail amounts of under R500 and many of the others were petty offenders. Almost six months after the PTS office opened, the number of accused awaiting trial at Pollsmoor who were unable to pay bail has dropped dramatically to 32%. Pre-trial Services expects a similar impact on Westville Prison in Durban.
Pre-trial Services also helps address problems of escape and corruption in the criminal justice system and perhaps, more importantly, the PTS system creates secure witness waiting rooms for state witnesses and victims of crime. The witness waiting room (which is staffed by community volunteers, under the supervision of a NICRO social worker), aims to reduce the fears and harm felt by witnesses, by providing useful information and the opportunity to obtain additional services if necessary.
The Pre-trial system is the first of several projects that the Bureau of Justice Assistance will design over the next five years to help government build public trust in the criminal justice system and to reduce crime.
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO ATTEND THE LAUNCH.
DATE: 8 MAY 1998 TIME: 11.00 AM VENUE: DURBAN MAGISTRATES COURT
SPEAKERS INCLUDE: JUSTICE MINISTER, MR DULLAH OMAR, DEPUTY MINISTER OF JUSTICE, DR TSHABALALA MSIMANG, DURBAN'S CHIEF MAGISTRATE, MR M I MKISE
ISSUED BY THE CHIEF DIRECTORATE: COMMUNICATION SERVICES FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.
07 MAY 1998
For more information contact:
Michelle Baird: Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance Tel: 021-461 7706 or 0836757552 Thulani Ntombela: Chief Bail Officer, Durban Tel: 031-3024244