During the period 2005 to 2009, only 5.1 percent of murder cases in The Bahamas resulted in convictions, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) said in a newly published document.

The IDB added that within the last five years, 305 accused murderers have been released on bail.

"This situation can partly explain why The Bahamas, although superior to the regional average, has recently shown a marked decline in its values for the World Governance Indicator related to the Rule of Law," the IDB said.

Between 2007 and 2012 the rule of law percentage rank for The Bahamas dropped from 88 percent to 67.8 percent, according to the World Bank.

"In The Bahamas, there is consensus about the limited institutional capacity of the justice system to respond to the public's demands," said the IDB document.

"This situation is contributing to the recent dramatic increase in incidents of violence and crime that remain unresolved amid an increasing judicial backlog and a diminishing number of convictions."

The statements are contained in an IDB technical cooperation abstract.

The IDB plans to assist the government in addressing the judicial backlog and the rate of conviction in The Bahamas by funding a swift justice pilot project. The IDB will provide $250,000 for the project. One-hundred thousand dollars is earmarked for the digital recording system and equipment.

Another $77,000 will fund the implementation of an Integrated Justice Information System (IJIS) that will aim to maximize cooperation among the Office of the Attorney General, the judiciary and the police force.

And $66,000 will contribute to modernizing the court process and conducting aggressive education for judges, magistrates, attorneys and court reporters, the IDB said.

The IDB said, "Today, few people doubt that sustainable development depends on the credibility of the legal system, the quality of the legal framework, the effective protection of property rights, and the honesty, effectiveness, and efficiency of the agencies in charge of applying the law to specific cases.

"In practical terms, this requires the existence of a functioning justice administration system that is independent, accessible and reliable as well as the presence of appropriate information and control systems.

"To properly perform its role a justice system should also be expeditious, which means that the system effectively completes cases in a reasonable time."

The IDB highlighted challenges associated with generating and sharing court transcripts with the relevant stakeholders as one of the main reasons the justice system cannot meet the public's demand.

"It is therefore critical that these records are made available to all involved parties within a reasonable timeframe that is as prompt as possible without sacrificing the accuracy or overall veracity of the finished product," the IDB said.

"The best way to make such records promptly available is to convert the system to digitalized technology.

"In The Bahamas, court reporting still consists of a transcriber, while the modern digital court reporting systems of today include broadcast quality microphones and digital recorders capable of recording the voices of proceeding participants on separate audio tracks."

The Court Reporting Unit came under fire last October after Court of Appeal President Anita Allen said that 80 outstanding transcripts had hindered the court's ability to review the decisions of lower courts.

Minister of State for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez said the government expects the introduction of digital recording in all of the courts to significantly improve the administration of justice.

He said the IDB's pilot project will complement the key objectives of the government's Swift Justice program.

"We expect with the funding, the availability of new technology and with amendments to the law following discussion with people who work in courts, we will be able to achieve levels of efficiency we have not been able to achieve," Gomez said.

The government announced the re-launch of the Swift Justice initiative in May 2012.

Gomez said he was not surprised about the decline in the country's rule of law ranking, but expects some turnaround with the introduction of the pilot project and the continued efforts of the Christie administration.

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