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'You have the right to an attorney' is a line that anyone who watches TV crime dramas, such as "Law and Order" would be familiar with. But, Executive Director of the Legal Aid Council, Hugh Faulkner, wants Jamaicans to recognize it as more than just a line. He says that the Council provides two forms of Legal Aid, duty counsel...

Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Senator Dorothy Lightbourne, yesterday (February 5) signed an agreement for a C$500,000 contribution from the Canadian-Caribbean Cooperation Fund (CCF) to further develop the Restorative Justice Programme in Jamaica. Minister Lightbourne explained that the Ministry of Justice has been mandated to establish a Restorative Justice Programme in several communities over a two-year period. The agreement...

Executive Director of the Legal Aid Council, Hugh Faulkner, has pledged to make legal aid services available to all Jamaicans, regardless of their means. "We are trying to ensure that not one citizen falls through the cracks, unrepresented," Mr. Faulkner said in an interview with JIS News recently. "The means test makes an assessment as to whether you are an...

The Legal Aid Council has embarked on a duty counsel sensitisation programme, which is aimed at ensuring that the rights of citizens, who are detained or arrested, are fully observed, including their right to legal advice and representation. Executive Director of the Legal Aid Council, Hugh Faulkner, told JIS News, that the outreach is targeting law enforcement officers in the...

The members of the Manchester Lay Magistrates Association have been commended for their contribution to the administration of justice in the parish. "This chapter has been exemplary and within the past 10 years, you have had no fewer than five recipients of the Golden Scale award, which is the highest award from the national body to Justices of the Peace...

Medical Practitioner, Dr. David Stair, is to be installed as Custos of Hanover on March 5, 2009. He succeeds the Hon. Mavis Whitter-King CD, who demitted office in 2006 for health reasons. Dr. Stair was appointed Custos Rotulorum of the parish by Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Professor Sir Kenneth Hall, in September of last year on the advice...

Senior Director in the Ministry of Justice, Marcia Beverley, has underscored the provisions and benefits to be derived under the Justice Transformation Agenda Programme, which the administration is pursuing for implementation. Addressing the half yearly meeting of the Manchester Lay Magistrates Association at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville on January 15, Mrs. Beverley said the initiative aims to improve...

Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Senator A.J. Nicholson, has said that Jamaica must address the scourge of human trafficking, if the country was to achieve true development. If we are not able to stem this scourge of human trafficking, if we are not able to get this out of our societal arrangement, the decay is going to set in...

Amendments to the Offences Against the Person Act, to cover any murder committed during a housebreaking, will be tabled in the Houses of Parliament before the end of the legislative year. Information Minister Senator Burchell Whiteman, who made the announcement at today's (Feb. 28) post Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, informed that Cabinet gave approval for the tabling of...

The Government of Jamaica is undertaking a comprehensive review of the island's justice system and will, within the next two months, engage an expert in justice sector reform to lead the process. Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Senator A.J. Nicholson, who made the announcement in his contribution to the State of the Nation debate in the Senate on Friday...

Efforts are being made by the Community Relations Department of the Clarendon Police Division to reactivate several neighbourhood watch groups in the parish and strengthen those that are active. Speaking at a special meeting of the neigbourhood watch groups, held at the St. James Methodist Church Hall on January 25 in May Pen, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Marlene Wilson Christie,...

Some seven persons have been sentenced to prison as the Ministry of Labour and Social Security continues to clamp down on employment agencies in breach of the terms and conditions of the Employment Agency Regulation Act. Director of the Manpower Services Division in the Ministry, Barrington Bailey, told JIS News that more agencies were under investigation. "There are four others...