Fourth, the president must support a more cohesive rule of law. While the Haitian National Police are now somewhat more professional and robust, and have improved their operations and reporting, the courts don’t have enough judges to hear the cases brought before them, if any judges are present at all. People are arrested for crimes from petty theft to wrongful association to armed gang activity, their cases are backlogged, and they are relegated to an overcrowded prison population.
More serious still is the violent crime happening both inside and outside the camps. Local women’s organizations like KOFAVIV (Komisyon Fanm Viktim pou Viktim) have reported high numbers of rapes, and both the police and MINUSTAH (The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) have asserted that gang members who escaped from prison during the earthquake have infiltrated camps. Even the authorities are falling victim to crime. In the last two months, 14 policemen have been killed, more than any number since the 2004 rebellion that forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power.
As a starting point, the government should work with MINUSTAH to complete the vetting of the Haitian National Police, and begin weeding out those who are still corrupt and who did not meet standards.
Meanwhile, The Supreme Court has been without a Chief Justice since Boniface Alexandre vacated the post in 2004 to succeed Mr. Aristide as interim president, and several seats on the judiciary remain vacant. The new president must name a Chief Justice and get the Superior Judiciary Council in place to set standards and improve judiciary functioning. The prison population can also be reduced by allowing the special chambers to hear petty crime cases of those who have already spent more time in prison than the law requires for their alleged crime.
