ABSTRACT
On the one hand, the courts have had to contend with recurrent constitutional challenges to the implementation of the death penalty as well as serious backlogs of cases in most countries; issues that admittedly are not unique to the region. On the other hand, governments have had to confront the problems of overcrowding prisons and alleged human rights violations by public authorities, chiefly but not solely the police, at the same time there have been increases in violent crimes. The past decade has seen a spiralling in litigation by parties who assert that their rights have been infringed in the criminal process or that the established process has not been followed. Prosecutors daily have had to contend with arguments not connected to the substantive criminal offence, ranging from delay, manipulation of prosecution to pre-trial publicity. All of these matters have led to analysis and review of the law in these areas.
