Criminal
Criminal Code with jury trial in the High Court
The Criminal Code contains the substantive offences, supported by the Criminal Procedure Code, the Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act. Indictable matters are tried in the High Court before a jury and summary matters before a magistrate in Kingstown or on circuit. The Director of Public Prosecutions conducts prosecutions independently under the Constitution.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — High Court for indictable trials; Magistrate's Court on circuit for summary matters
- Deadline — First appearance: without undue delay after arrest
- Deadline — Summary offence: complaint generally within six months
- Deadline — Appeal against conviction: 21 days from sentence
Governing law
- Criminal Code
- Criminal Procedure Code
- Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Act
- Proceeds of Crime and Money Laundering (Prevention) Act
In practice
Capital punishment remains in the Criminal Code for murder but has not been carried out since 1995, and the Privy Council authority on delay and on mandatory death sentences applies with full force given the retained appeal. Cannabis was partly decriminalised for medical and religious use under the Medicinal Cannabis Industry Act, which sits awkwardly alongside the unamended Drugs Act and requires care in advising.