Phase three roll-out of Jamaica’s justice reform programme, targeting implementation of the Social Order componentwill intensify over the forthcoming months. Social Order is one of the three components under the Government’s Justice Undertakings for Social Transformation (JUST) Programme, being implementedwith Global Affairs Canada (GAC) funding support of $19.8 million. It is intended to enable all Jamaicans to equitably access gender-responsive...

Jamaica will host its first Witness Care Conference from July 19 to 20, which will seek to address the stigma surrounding witness care in the island, and to encourage greater participation of witnesses in court. “The ultimate goal of the conference is to highlight for persons the facilities that are currently in place to make the process of participating in...

Chief Justice, Bryan Sykes, says the establishment of parish justice centres will help to further increase the court clearance rate, which averaged 103 per cent for the January to March quarter. He was addressing the official opening of the St. Elizabeth Justice Centre on Thursday (July 11). “We are clearing 103 cases for every 100 coming in [which] means we...

Minister of National Security, the Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, has reiterated the Government’s commitment to providing the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) with the necessary resources to solve crime. “In the modern world the police are a sophisticated professional operation… and you require the requisite equipment and support in all areas of communication and basic police stations, transportation… to function effectively,”...

A new Justice Centre was officially opened on Coke Drive in Santa Cruz, St. Elizabeth, on Thursday (July 11), by Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck. The facility was funded as part of an agreement between the Government and the European Union (EU), and is intended to help clear backlogs and give the people in the parish increased access to...

The National Child Diversion Programme, which deals with children who have come in conflict with the law, is to be fully rolled out by November this year. This was disclosed by State Minister for National Security, Hon. Rudyard Spencer, at a stakeholders’ sensitisation session on the programme at the University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters in St. Andrew on...

Attorney General, Marlene Malahoo Forte, says significant strides have been made under the Centralisation of Legal Services Project. The initiative, launched in April 2018, is geared towards improving the quality of legal services across the public sector. Making her contribution to the 2019/20 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on June 25, Mrs. Malahoo Forte said that the core...