JPs Lauded for Helping Communities to Access Services Provided by Justice Ministry

Justices of the Peace (JPs) have been lauded by Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck, for helping communities to access the many services offered by the Ministry.

The Minister said Jamaica now has more than 10,000 JPs, and many of the younger ones are actively coordinating with the older JPs to provide “better information” through the JP Associations, so that citizens “see justice as an important commodity”.

“Our justice system is now in the best shape that it has ever been in the history of our country, and it is because JPs across Jamaica have been participating and assisting citizens to access justice and to refer persons who are involved in conflicts,” the Minister said.

He was delivering the keynote address at the commissioning of 94 JPs, held on July 17 at the Church of God of Prophecy in Old Harbour, St. Catherine.

The Minister said that when persons who are in dispute seek help through the various services offered by his Ministry, which the JPs are promoting, it lessens the work of the police.

He emphasised that the court system is “working assiduously to ensure that justice is delivered in a timely manner”, noting that the Administrator-General’s Department will be engaging community persons in estate planning to prevent families fighting over “dead lef” properties.

The Ministry of Justice offers services such as the National Child Diversion Progamme, which is tasked with the protection and care of children entering the justice system, and Restorative Justice, which helps “to reintegrate offenders and to achieve a sense of healing for both the victims and the community”.

Among other services is the Victim Services Division, which provides therapeutic interventions for all victims of crime and is committed to the “best interest” of victims.

New JP, Morganne Taylor, told JIS News that she has been serving her community through a service club, and “I figured that I need to do more”, hence her decision to join the system.

Ms. Taylor pointed out that she will be focusing on child diversion, and prison visits.

For Meisha Wright-Bernard, becoming a JP will help to push her passion for community development, while Kevin Parker, another new JP, said he wants to continue and expand the “level of service” that he has been offering the youth and children in his community.

Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Christopher Phillips, who was also commissioned as a JP, said the police have been getting “very good” service from JPs, and he wants it to grow.

“I am expanding the services that I have been offering as a police officer, and I hope that these new JPs will make a big difference,” he said.