Justices of the Peace Being Trained to Better Serve Citizens

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Carol Palmer, says the training of Justices of the Peace (JP) being undertaken by the Ministry will better enable them to serve the citizenry.

“What we are trying to do is to equip our JPs to assist our citizens in as many spheres as possible (and) also to be able to point them to where they can get assistance… and to reset the boundaries of what constitutes the justice system from a largely court-based penal system to one that is more quasi-judicial,” she said.

“It signifies a determined push to reshape the narrative on justice in Jamaica… , redefine the concept of people-involvement in the justice system, and to push services closer to communities and people who are hard to reach,” Mrs. Palmer added.

She was addressing a training session for JPs from Westmoreland, Hanover, St. James and Trelawny held on February 22 at the West Jamaica Conference Centre in Montego Bay, St. James.

“We need you to be a part of this bold vision. Having a modern  justice system that can efficiently dispose of cases in both the civil and criminal courts will give our citizens, business community and tourists confidence that we are in a mature democracy that can govern ourselves well,” she noted.

The Ministry is targeting the training of 500 JPs this year in mediation services, who will be called upon to assist the courts or settle disputes at the community level.

The training is being supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), United Kingdom Government, Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) and the National Integrity Action (NIA).