Belize’s Justice System Is Evolving. Here Are the Game Changers Leading the Way for Transformation

       Photo by Ignite Ltd.: Ms Courtenay Zelaya (L), Community Rehabilitation Officer & Celi Robateau (R) Youth For many, real justice lies in how accessible, fair, and responsive the justice system is when it matters most. In Belize, longstanding challenges, like extensive case backlogs, delays in investigations, and limited alternatives to incarceration for youth who come in contact with the law, have frequently made that ideal difficult to realize. Quite often, many families are left waiting for closure or navigating prolonged uncertainty and complex systems. Luckily, recent small but impactful changes have been taking root in key institutions across the country, and each one has been helping to pave the way towards a more responsive, humane, and effective justice system. Financial support by the European Union has made it possible to mobilize key technical know-how and expertise through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support justice reform initiatives in Belize. The people leading them are improving systems, changing experiences, and paving the way for transformation. In Belize City, for example, the Community Rehabilitation Department’s (CRD) National Diversion Program has been providing youth who come into contact with the law an alternative to judicial punishment. For one young woman, Celi Robateau, the program served as a turning point in her life. Celi first came into contact with the court system when one after-school hangout with friends quickly escalated into a physical altercation. For many young persons in Belize, it’s an incident that can mark the beginning of a long and difficult path through courts, charges, and lasting consequences. But through the CRD’s Youth Diversion Program, and with the support of her social worker, Ms. Courteney Zelaya, Celi’s experience unfolded differently.                       Photo by Ignite Ltd.: Celi Robateau, Youth Diversion Programme Participant “My social worker cared so much about me,” Celi shared. “She always checked up on me, texted me, called me, always came in to have one-on-one conversations, and I really liked that.” Zelaya is a Community Rehabilitation Officer who specializes in juvenile delinquency and rehabilitation. For her, there is no such thing as a typical day when working at the CRD. “At times we can have our entire day planned out, and then an emergency or a priority case would come up and erase all our plans.” Quite often, however, her days involve meeting with clients, doing wellness checks, following up with schools, and doing curfew check-ins at night. For Celi, the curfew checks—and the discipline they required—were especially challenging. But ultimately, they helped her stay out of trouble, and through the program, she was able to avoid receiving a permanent criminal record. Instead, she was provided an alternate path, one where her future opportunities are not reduced by the stigmas surrounding criminal records. “I realize that I have changed a lot,” Celi said. “I have grown from where I was. I was very full of anger, always ready to argue, but now I’m peaceful. I prefer my own company; I’m not always out with friends and fighting, I’m about to graduate. I’m really happy with where I am right now.” Today, she hopes to enroll in school at the ITVET and eventually the University of Belize. She also aspires to provide her newborn son with the best possible life. Giving Young People a Second Chance Beyond counselling and day-to-day casework, the CRD also works to make sure young people have real opportunities to rebuild their lives. Through the National Diversion Program, the department can step in when minors are involved in lower-level offences, helping them avoid incarceration. Program Coordinator Joshua Estell explains that the focus is not only on accountability, but on taking a more holistic approach, and understanding what may have led a young person into conflict with the law in the first place, including family or economic challenges. Cases are referred through both the police and the courts, allowing young people to be guided into support instead of being pushed deeper into the justice system. A key part of that support is education. Through initiatives like the Diversion Educational Empowerment Scholarship, developed with technical support from the UNDP and funding from the EU, about 17 young people have been able to return to school or continue their studies. Estell says this has helped expand who gets access to educational support. “I think what was excellent about this initiative was that before, when you would hear about scholarships and educational assistance, it was focused on those in high school or primary school. But now we are able to look beyond just what public assistance would have allowed and help out some clients who were at SJCJC, some who were at Ocean Academy in San Pedro.” Celi Robateau is just one of many success stories that Ms. Courteney Zelaya has encountered during her time at the Community Rehabilitation Department. When asked what success looks like for a young person enrolled in the National Diversion Program, she noted that it does vary from individual to individual, but as was the case with Celi, it usually involves an increase in confidence, better decision-making, and improved self-awareness.                                Photo by Ignite Ltd.: Ms Courteney Zelaya, CRO at the Community Rehabilitation Department “For me, success is them reaching out when they feel upset, as opposed to just taking it on or going and fighting or doing whatever they know how to do in terms of coping with their emotions,” Zelaya said. She believes, wholeheartedly, that providing an alternative to incarceration is essential to meaningful rehabilitation.  “It allows a more reasonable approach not only in instilling accountability but also providing that leverage when there are instances where a mistake is just a mistake…Diversion provides that opportunity where they are able to be guided while getting back on their feet or learning from those mistakes.” A true game changer, Zelaya has learned what works and what doesn’t when it comes to the rehabilitation of at-risk youth. Her go-to in recent years has been focusing on helping her clients to build what she calls “resilience”. “For instance,” she noted. “I would help them improve on their self-awareness, value their self-worth, and have more respect for themselves. I’ve seen where that approach tends to eliminate a lot of the influences within their environment because they are now able to stand on their own and realize, ‘perhaps that is not what I want for myself, or this is not what I want my story to be about.’ So one of the big breakthroughs for me is when young people realize that they play a key role in determining who they want to be and what they want to be known as.” Zelaya also serves to bridge the gap that exists between young people and the justice system, as unfamiliar legal terms, intimidating court environments, and a lack of understanding of their rights can leave both them and their families vulnerable. “I think once they are provided with the necessary support and guidance, they become better able to navigate life’s challenges,” she explained. “They’re more able to take a step back and consider, ‘how can I do this differently?’” Just as important, Zelaya says, is changing how young people perceive social workers. “We’re here to support them,” she emphasized. “Not just to enforce what others think should be done, but to listen, to understand, and to guide.” Community Policing and the Power of Partnership In many cases, intervention begins long before a young person ever steps into a courtroom or is formally charged. Through a more community-oriented approach, the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) of the Belize Police Department is helping the Community Rehabilitation Department to identify at-risk youth and divert them into rehabilitative pathways rather than punitive justice. For Senior Superintendent Rochelle Chan, this shift represents a fundamental change in how policing is approached in Belize.                                  Photo by Ignite Ltd : Senior Superintendent Rochelle Chan “There’s a big difference in relation to how I first served than present,” he explained. “There’s a greater impact. We used to look at the community as persons who would report incidents. Now, we engage with them and work together with them. So there’s a big difference.” What that engagement looks like in practice has evolved significantly over time. Today, it involves initiatives like community watches, school outreach programs, and regular meetings with residents. Through building relationships with residents, the CIB is making it easier to facilitate intervention and more informed police responses. “We try to identify situations where we can assist, whether it comes from identifying open lots where criminals might hide or identifying children who are unsupervised. We bring in all our partners and stakeholders together.” Beyond just the residents, the CIB works closely with government partners, including the Human Development, Education, and Health ministries. Today, rather than arrests, their priority when it comes to youth is diversion, whether through counseling, workshops, or direct enrollment into the National Diversion Program. “We integrate them into the national diversion program so that, rather than being arrested, they have a better future.” Meanwhile, through school-based programmes focused on life skills, anti-bullying, and conflict resolution, officers like Chan are working to address the root causes of crime before they escalate. “Early intervention plays a major role,” Chan noted. “If we can prevent crime from occurring, and we can empower youth to be productive citizens, you’ll find that we have a productive community.” At the same time, strong community relationships have also often proven critical in solving crimes when they do occur. Chan recalled one case in the Cayo District, where information shared through community networks helped officers identify a suspect vehicle in a missing persons investigation. That cooperation ultimately led to a successful arrest, demonstrating how trust between law enforcement and the public can directly impact outcomes. These partnerships also extend into the investigative process, where information collected by police officers helps to build and guide cases from the very beginning. At the same time, evidence analysed by the National Forensic Science Service plays a key role in shaping how cases move forward, strengthening investigations with clear, scientific findings. The NFSS and a New DNA Database Ongoing reforms in Belize’s world of forensics include a new DNA Act and clearer rules for how forensic evidence is collected, stored, and used in court. Thanks to the support of the European Union, these changes are helping to improve coordination between agencies and ensure that investigations are more efficient, better connected, and grounded in reliable evidence. The National Forensic Science Service (NFSS) is playing an increasingly central role in strengthening Belize’s justice system through science, objectivity, and evidence. Unlike in many countries, the NFSS in Belize operates independently from the Police Department, and for Executive Director Gian Cho, that separation is fundamental to public trust.                                Photo by Ignite Ltd : The National Forensic Science Services Lab “It’s not the commissioner of police that’s in charge of the database. It’s not a police officer that will go in, as you see in the movies, to tamper with the database or even use the database. It’s strictly civilian scientific staff that are housed in this building, which police don’t have access to, other than the front door to drop off evidence.” With the recent passage of the new DNA Act, Belize is entering a new phase in the use of forensic science within the justice system. Until now, the country has faced key limitations: DNA samples have often needed to be sent abroad for analysis, and the absence of a dedicated legal framework created gaps in oversight, administration, and the establishment of a national DNA database. The DNA Act addresses those gaps by establishing a formal framework for the collection, use, retention, and oversight of DNA information, while also strengthening protections for individual rights through clearer procedures around consent and judicial authorization. “Right now, if a suspect says, ‘you don’t have permission to collect my DNA information; I don’t consent there,’ the state can’t do anything,” Cho explained. “There are a lot of murder cases, sexual assault cases, aggravated assault cases where even if there’s video footage of someone committing an offense, if they say no, I don’t want to give my DNA… a court order can’t be requested.” “With the DNA Act,” he added, “consent is still the first method—to ask somebody to provide a DNA sample even if they’re caught on camera committing the offense. But if they don’t consent, then the investigating officer can apply to a magistrate for a court order…that court order gives the state the authority to detain the person if needed…and collect the DNA sample, which is the case in many countries that have such legislation.” Beyond the passage of the DNA Act, the NFSS is also beginning to see practical changes on the ground. While a full national DNA laboratory is still a long-term goal, new rapid testing capacity is already changing how quickly families and investigators get answers.           Photo by Ignite Ltd : Mr. Gian Cho, Executive Director of NFSS with the Rapid DNA testing equipment “Last Week, on Wednesday, there was an autopsy done on a decomposed body. I think the family had gone to the news and said, ‘We were told DNA would take four to six months,’ not knowing that we did rapid DNA. By Friday, we had the DNA results to identify the body. So it really allows for a reduction in distress and uncertainty for members of the public.” That 48-hour turnaround marked the fastest DNA identification in Belize’s history, and with it came a promise of more effective investigations and also faster closure for families. Behind these developments are also decades of institutional evolution. Diana Bol, Chief Analyst and Toxicology Supervisor at the NFSS, has worked in the system since the early 1990s and has seen it transform from a small unit into a multi-disciplinary forensic service.                      Photo by Ignite Ltd : Mrs. Diana Bol, Chief Analyst and Toxicology Supervisor at the NFSS “I came here in 1994…in 1994, it was just three people,” she said. “We had only been doing drug analysis and alcohol testing, which is ethanol in blood and urine. So from then till now, we have so many other scopes or different types of analysis that we do here at the laboratory, so it’s been Leaps and Bounds.” As forensic science becomes more central to criminal justice in Belize, she says public expectations are also shifting—often influenced by television portrayals that do not reflect reality. This she dubs the “CSI effect”. “CSI effect is simply looking at how the movie industry has portrayed that things happen so quickly, and it does not. Forensic science is something that’s evolving every day. There are new methodologies. There are new things that you have to put in place to ensure that the work that you get out is actually correct, accurate, precise, repeatable.” For Bol, however, the value of forensic science is simple: it removes doubt. “Forensic science is game-changing because we are taking the evidence we find out in the field and we are bringing it here, analyzing it; we are comparing it, and we are saying yes, it is or no it isn’t. There is no midway.” Changing the Game, Together Receiving a swift reaction from the justice system is very important for the psychological well-being of victims. It signals to them that authorities care about the injustice they have suffered. It is also essential for society as a whole, as it sends out a clear message to potential offenders and can act as a deterrent. On the other hand, delays in the process can result in both victims and their loved ones being left in limbo. They can also lead to victims feeling re-victimized after having to repeatedly retell their traumatic experiences or endure long periods of uncertainty. Through Global Gateway, the European Union invests in sustainable infrastructure, people, and systems to deliver results and unlock new potential. The Partnership of the Caribbean and the European Union on Justice programme (PACE Justice), funded by the EU and implemented by the UNDP, seeks to reduce the case backlog in the criminal justice systems and prevent future backlogs by enhancing the institutional capacities of police forces, prosecutors, lawyers, courts, and prisons in the Caribbean to effectively and efficiently manage criminal cases. While a lack of resources, capacity constraints, and a lack of alternative pre-trial options have resulted in case backlogs and bottlenecks in the justice sector both in Belize and other Caribbean countries over time, the good news is that change is happening. Taken together, the work of the Community Rehabilitation Department, the Criminal Investigation Branch, and the National Forensic Science Service reflects a justice system in transition—one in which each part of the system is beginning to work in a more interconnected way with the others. Whether through early intervention and community policing or rehabilitation programmes and advances in forensic science, each part of the system in Belize is beginning to reinforce the others in practical, measurable ways. Underpinning much of this progress is the partnership between the European Union and Belize, which is helping to strengthen institutions, build capacity, and introduce reforms in par with modern and international best practices that were previously out of reach. Together, these efforts point toward a justice system that is not only more efficient and accountable but also more people-centred, humane, and responsive to the people it serves. 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