Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

The huge backlog of cases in the courts is of concern to Chief Justice Zaila McCalla and she will be taking immediate steps to implement the criminal case management conference, which was recommended by the Justice Reform Task Force.

Mrs. McCalla is positive that such a procedure will shorten trials without any adverse effect and unfairness of the trial process. She will be meeting soon with members of the Jamaican Bar Association (JBA) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to discuss the matter.

The Chief Justice made the disclosure yesterday shortly after she opened the Michaelmas session of the Home Circuit Court, which was marked with a colourful ceremony in Justice Square, downtown Kingston.

'Apply our minds'

"It is very difficult to reduce the number of cases so, we will have to apply our minds to that," the Chief Justice said after Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Lisa Palmer, remarked that the list of cases for the term was a formidable one.

There are 285 cases on the list for trial, of which 218 were traversed from the previous term with 67 new cases being added. There are 174 murder cases and 81 sexual offence cases on the list.

Attorney-at-law Robert Fletcher in pledging support on behalf of the private Bar, pointed out that the JBA had done a survey on the reason for the backlog, and found that more courts were needed in order for it to be reduced.

In response, the Chief Justice said one of the recommendations by the Justice Reform Task Force was that the criminal case management should be implemented speedily. She said it was reported that in jurisdictions where case management was done, it had rapidly reduced the large volume of criminal cases.

The Chief Justice disclosed that she had requested an audit of all persons in custody. The audit must reflect the length of time the persons are in custody, the nature of the offence and the status of each accused. She said she was going to put that on the agenda with the JBA and the DPP, to see how some of those cases could be disposed of.

She pointed out that one of the grave problems the courts faced was lack of sufficient jurors to try the cases and has called for an urgent reform of the jury system. She reminded the jurors of their civic duties and called on them to act responsibly when summoned to serve.

She also called on the police to ensure that prisoners were taken to court on time.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com