UNDP Assist to Reduce Court System Backlogs

We also spoke with Michael Lund, the Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program. He gave us more insight into their mission to reduce the court system backlog through alternative sentencing options like probation. Here’s what he had to say.

 

Michael Lund, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP

“This is a year long collaboration we have had not only with the ministry of human development but also with the justice sector at large, the courts, the police, the prisons, and the lawyers that we have supported in a range of efforts to improve the system, including the backlogs. I think the efforts to reduce the backlog was the Adult Alternative Sentencing Act of last year. Operationalizing that is creating this unit which is the adult probational unit that is being created. This IT equipment will help operationalize that unit. You are able to move away from writing papers, shuffling papers, but digitizing your work and moving more efficient. But it is also reducing the backlog by not sending low-risk, first time offenders all the way through the court system into overcrowded prison, but handling it much early and up front. So, it does not even become a case.”