Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck, says Justices of the Peace (JPs) will be required to participate in more training sessions in order to strengthen their effectiveness. “We are looking at the probability that we will have at least four training sessions per year for all the JPs and you should attend at least one for you to be empowered...

The Government is seeking to increase the number of judges available to serve in parish courts. “In the short term, we want to employ at least another 15 or 20 judges permanently or on a part-time basis to deal with the backlog in the parish courts,” said Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck. He was making his contribution to the...

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Carol Palmer, says Jamaica stands to benefit from expertise in tackling human trafficking. She made the statement while speaking at a regional conference on human trafficking now underway at the Hilton Rose Hall Hotel in St. James. The week-long event, which is being led by INTERPOL, aims to strengthen the capacity of the...

The Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) criminal records system is now computerized. Installed at a cost of approximately $98.1 million (£545,267), with funding from the United Kingdom (UK) Government, the electronic database replaces the manual format of documentation at the Criminal Records Office on Duke Street in Kingston. The facility now enables the JCF to streamline the collation and storage of...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the Government intends to take bold steps in tackling crime in Jamaica. “I believe there is scope within what is legal and reasonable for the Government to make changes,” he said. The Prime Minister was speaking in an interview on the Jamaica Information Service’s (JIS) Issues & Answers programme on Tuesday (May...

The Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) is seeking to identify 90 parent mentors across its 50 communities in eight parishes to begin working with parents this September. The parishes are Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Catherine, Westmoreland, St. James, St. Ann, Clarendon and St. Mary. Parents of children ages 6 to 15 will be targeted under the initiative. The mentors will...

The Jury (Amendment) Act 2016, which makes provisions for majority verdicts to be accepted in cases of non-capital murder, was approved in the Senate on May 27. Piloting the Bill, Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, said this revised legislation aims to rectify omissions made in the Jury (Amendment) Act, 2015, which came into force...