Marshall Islands: crime and justice
2 answers, 2 from the Marshall Islands's own official bodies, with a link to each figure.
How much crime is there in the Marshall Islands?
Police prosecutors filed 284 criminal cases in the Majuro District Court in 2024, and the Attorney-General filed 24 serious criminal cases in the High Court, according to the Judiciary’s 2024 annual report. Of the High Court cases, 21 were in Majuro and 3 in Ebeye.
The Majuro High Court cases included two murders, two first-degree sexual assaults, four aggravated assaults, three burglaries, two trafficking in persons cases and two narcotics cases. The Ebeye cases were three burglaries. Of the District Court cases, 251 were brought by the Majuro Atoll Local Government police and 33 by the National Police. These are court filings, not recorded crime: no national police crime statistics were found on EPPSO's site, checked on 15 October 2026.
How quickly do Marshall Islands courts deal with criminal cases?
The High Court cleared 15 criminal cases in 2024 against 24 filed, a clearance rate of 62.5%, according to the Judiciary’s 2024 annual report. Over 2020 to 2024 it cleared 123 cases against 139 filed (88.5%). The Majuro District Court cleared 283 criminal cases against 284 filed, 99.6%.
The clearance rate compares cases finished with cases filed in the year; 100% means the backlog is not growing. The report says the High Court rate should improve in 2025 because the Attorney-General's office has hired more prosecutors. In the District Court, 276 of 287 defendants represented themselves; 10 had a public defender and one had private counsel.
Official bodies in the Marshall Islands
- Judiciary of the Marshall Islands
- Office of the Attorney-GeneralProsecutes criminal cases in the High Court; its filings are reported in the judiciary's annual report.
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Read on 14 October 2026. Definitions · Report an error