Parish Courts Increase Clearance Rate Despite COVID -19

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes is reporting an increase in the clearance rate for parish courts last year despite the challenges of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The court clearance rate is measured in terms of the number of cases disposed of per 100 cases. In 2020, the parish courts saw 37,000 cases, both criminal and civil.

Speaking at the virtual launch of the Commission of Senior Judges of the Parish Court on Sunday (March 21), Chief Justice Sykes, informed that during the first quarter of 2020 (January to March), the parish court clearance rate for criminal matters was 96.47 per cent.

This means that for every 100 cases coming in, 96 were disposed.

He said that after Jamaica recorded its first case of COVID-19, the courts started offering emergency services only.

“Understandably, within that context, the clearance rate [for criminal cases] fell to 51.50 per cent by the end of June, but then the recovery began. So, by December 31, 2020 the parish courts were disposing of 121 cases for every 100 cases coming in. I think that is a remarkable achievement and I think the judges ought to be congratulated,” Justice Sykes said.

As it relates to civil matters, he noted that the gross clearance rate at the end of December 2020 was 93 per cent.

“That is to say 93 cases were disposed of for every 100 cases coming in, which represented an increase in productivity for those courts. So, in other words, during a major crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the courts have shown great resilience and have actually improved their output and productivity,” Justice Sykes said.

He attributed the achievement to the hard work and commitment of the judges and court staff to the delivery of justice to Jamaicans.

“The figures bear this out, so we know that the courts are not as inefficient as persons were suggesting previous to the collection of statistics. Since 2016, we now know that 83 per cent of the cases filed in those courts are disposed of in less than 12 months. Our time standard is 24 months. We are aiming to have cases disposed of 24 months from the point of entry in any court,” he said.

Chief Justice Sykes noted that having courts that are disposing of 83 per cent of criminal cases in under 12 months, is a remarkable achievement.

He said that of the cases filed in 2016, “we have a net backlog rate (cases older than 24 months) of under five per cent. If we extend the analysis even further, we will see that for all cases filed, our net backlog rate, which was 32 per cent in 2016, is now down to less than 10 per cent”.