We also asked Justice Anderson about their high level of comfort with cameras in their courtrooms. As viewers will have noticed, we have aired portions of full hearings from the Caribbean Court of Justice. In fact, they are so comfortable with full transparency in the courtroom that they broadcast the majority of their hearings live on their Youtube channel.
We contrast that with our domestic courts, where the police and the support staff are highly suspicious when they see journalists pulling their smartphones to take notes on important details connected to high-profile cases. Also, members of the press regularly have to ask for special permission to bring laptops into those courtrooms.
We asked Justice Anderson about that, and here's what he had to say:
Daniel Ortiz
"You guys publish it freely on the Youtube channel. We still have issues here where our judges seem a little threatened by recordings. We're still not [freely] allowed, as journalists, to take devices in because they don't want clandestine recordings of sensitive information escaping and leaked into the public. But what's your stance on [it]?"
Hon. Winston Anderson, Chair, CCJ Academy for Law
"Well, I think there are some kinds of proceedings which, obviously, you want to have in-camera. If you have, for example, a sensitive sexual offense case involving children and so on, you don't want that to be revealed. But more generally, I think we're living in an area of openness and transparency. And I think, as far as possible, judicial officers should be prepared to open up the courts to the view of the public. And I'm sure, as time goes on, that will happen."
