No local organizations concern themselves solely with human rights, and the question of prison visits by human rights monitors did not arise during the year. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile Legal procedures, for the most part patterned after U.S. law, provide for due process, which is carefully observed. The Government does not use forced exile. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, and it is independent in practice. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the legislature.
Public trial is provided for in the Bill of Rights, and trials are conducted fairly.
Juveniles may have closed hearings. Despite these provisions, cultural resistance to litigation and incarceration as methods of maintaining public order has allowed some persons to act with impunity. Serious cases of sexual and other assault and even murder have not gone to trial, and suspects routinely are released indefinitely. Bail, even for major crimes, usually is set low. There were no reports of political prisoners.