Restorative Justice Centres To Help Reduce Court Cases Quickly

Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck says the ministry will be working to ensure that court cases are dealt with quickly by coordinating with the Restorative Justice centres across the island.

“Matters must be settled in a reasonable and timely manner because when they drag on for too long, people feel that the only alternative is to take it into their hands to get what they consider to be justice, but that is not justice,” he said.

He was speaking during the National Service of Thanksgiving which signals the official start of Restorative Justice Week 2022. The service was held at the Boulevard Baptist Church in Kingston on Sunday (January 30).

This year’s theme is “Crime Prevention through Restorative Justice is Everybody’s Business.”

Against this background, Minister Chuck said Restorative Justice centres, which fall under the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) method, will help to “take away as many of the less serious cases from the dockets of the court system itself.”

“The truth is that the judicial system, the courts, are under pressure [and] today, I just want [you] to recognise that restorative justice is an appropriate means to settle family disputes, to overcome domestic abuses and violence, to overcome the conflicts within the home, within the communities and within our society,” he urged.

Additionally, Minister Chuck said “[today] people use inappropriate, unlawful, violent and murderous behaviour to set their arguments. This is something for the state to respond to.”

On this note, he urged judges to consider a life sentence for “all serious offences.”

“Criminals who behave in a heartless manner, who have no humanity in them, must be put away for a long time and depending on the mitigating or aggravating factors, [judges can] determine after how many years parole should be considered,” he advised.

“As the Prime Minister has intimated, if the offender, having been found with an illegal firearm or used illegal firearm, give assistance to the prosecution and the state, will a lesser sentence of life imprisonment be considered, and that is the way that we can send the emphatic message to criminals across Jamaica, that the state means business,” Minister Chuck said.

Restorative Justice is a process where all the parties with a stake in a particular offence come together to resolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and usually involves a Justice of the Peace (JP).

Citizens can visit the Ministry of Justice’s website for information about the centre locations in their respective communities.