The popular mantra of the chattering class is to avoid madness by not doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Yet no sooner have the words fallen from their lips than they proceed to do exactly that.

Take this Economic Growth Council (EGC). My dictionary defines the “economy” thus: “control and management of money, resources, etc, of a community, society, household, etc”. Yet, as far as one can tell, the EGC’s membership was composed of captains of business, finance and economics, but not a single sociologist! Sort of like picking a cricket team without a wicketkeeper. Not even our hopelessly antediluvian West Indies selectors have ever done that.

Small wonder then that its recommendations contains nothing about the impact of our culture on our economy — an oversight which has contributed mightily to our dismal economic performance over four decades. We keep believing that economistic decisions alone can fix our economy. They can’t and won’t.

Crime, that other intractable problem, suffers the same fate. Prominent attorney-at-law Peter Champagnie, in a recent Jamaica Observer piece, lamented how the police had only one vehicle to transport detainees from several locations to reach court by 10:00 am. Implicit in his lament was that the police need more vehicles. The question not asked is why, in 2016, with videoconferencing available, are detainees for non-trial dates even being transported to court at all. Why aren’t they seated with their attorneys in a room at detention centre with the judge conducting the bail or non-trial hearing from chambers, saving a bundle in time and money?

Not, of course, to mention reforming the criminal-friendly laws themselves which nobody, least of all the defence bar, wants to touch. Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, in his second coming, seems to have found religion and is now pressing judges to do what they’re paid for: to deliver judgements (not necessarily long treatises or dissertations) within six months. The bookies are taking bets as to what happens first: the Reggae Boyz scoring a goal or Delroy Chuck backslides.

I learnt early, in a previous life as defence counsel, that my clients were seldom angels, but rather mostly criminals who feared swift and certain conviction and harsh punishment. So even if Chuck doesn’t backslide, merely getting judges to deliver more timely judgements may only result in quicker acquittals if the criminal-friendly laws themselves are not amended (eg, full appeal rights for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, judge-only trials, thorough review of ancient rules of evidence, reverse onus of proof for those facing third trial for similar offences).

The old adage that it is better for “a hundred murderers to walk free than for one guilty man to be wrongly convicted” has no resonance in the Jamaica of today.

The individuals who have held the justice and/or security portfolios over the years have been dismal failures. How ironic it would be if the first to have the testicular fortitude to really sort out the issue is a female, attorney general, Marlene Malahoo Forte? We are told that tough, controversial, outside-the-box laws are in gestation. The lawyers, led by People’s National Party Senator Mark Golding, lie in wait to vociferously defend the rights of criminals down to their last, naive, sanctimonious non sequitur. A crime-ridden nation waits to exhale.

ewat@rogers.com