Cameras in courtrooms not a priority
for MOJ

Press Release

August 22, 2011 - The Ministry of Justice wishes to clarify that the Minister of Justice, the Honourable Delory Chuck, at no time, suggested that allowing cameras in courtrooms was his priority or that of the Ministry.

The Minister merely suggested that in a bid to make the justice system more transparent, one option would be to allow cameras inside the courtrooms - in appropriate cases - to facilitate the public getting an understanding of the court procedures of justice system, and by extension the administration of justice in Jamaica.

Since he was sworn in on Tuesday, July 5, 2011 to date, he has been promoting his main priorities which include:

·         the clearing of the case backlog in the justice system.

·         More efficient use of the court's time

·         Full access to the courts by the general public

“Begin the debate”
On Thursday, August 18, 2011, it was accurately reported that the Minister of Justice, in his presentation at the opening of the Lucea Family Court, "invited stakeholders to begin the debate on cameras in courtrooms."

It is rather unfortunate that four days later, the impression is being given by Opposition Spokesman on Justice, Senator Mark Golding, that the Minister wants to make this issue a priority at this time, as at no time did Minister Chuck suggest that having cameras in the courts was a priority for the Ministry of Justice.

(See “Camera not priority” in The Gleaner dated August 22, 2011. Go to: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110822/lead/lead1.html )

Transcript of Speech - Opening of the Lucea Family Court - August 18, 2011

Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck Address the

Opening Ceremony for the Lucea Family Court

Watson Taylor Drive, Hanover

2: 00 p.m.

TRANSCRIPT

*Please note that there may be some minor typographical inaccuracies resulting from audio issues.

Mr. Chairman,

I must tell you that I like to stand (when I Speak) and the reason I like to stand especially when I come into areas that people don’t know me…I get a little compliment, “I didn’t know you were such a tall and handsome gentleman…” (Laughter) And I am sure all the ladies here are looking at me and are saying exactly what I just said, I see they are bowing their heads. (Laughter)

1.     The Hon. Dr. David Stair, Custos Rotulorum, Hanover,

2.     The Hon. Mrs. Justice Zaila McCalla, the Chief Justice of Jamaica,

3.     His Excellency Ambassador Marco Alemani,

4.     Senator Dorothy Lightbourne, my friend and colleague,

5.     Our Permanent Secretary is here as Chairman

6.     His Worship Mayor Councillor Lloyd Hill, Mayor of Lucea,

7.     Mr. Donovan Hamilton who opened the heavens so that we could have showers of blessings, and he knows what I mean.  

8.     My good friend the Resident Magistrate of the Family Court, Mrs. Deon Gallimore -Brown, someone I have known for many years.  

9.     Mr. Clive Sterling, the Managing Director of Sheracon Limited,

10.                        Dr. Lawrence Nicholson from the Poverty Reduction Program,

11.                        Mr. Fred Campbell, the head of the Project Department of Ministry of Justice,

12.                        ACP Frater, you Sir and your team of police officers, some of whom assisted us in getting here safely at times when I thought we needed a boat to take us through Lucea.

13.                        Members of the media

I wish that they (the media) would take much of what was said by the other speakers and much less of what I have to say but get certainly what the other speakers have said, especially in gratitude for this court here today.

Honoured guests. Ladies and gentlemen.

First let me thank the European Union.  Without the European Union’s input we would not be sitting here this afternoon.  Ambassador Alemanni, your presence in Jamaica has been a great credit and benefit to the people of Jamaica, and if I dare say - to my government.  You have been a friend of Jamaica and of this present government.  I am sorry to hear that your term in office is coming to a close, sometime this year. I think we should write the European Union to ask for an extension, but I understand that it is determined, so any application may be turned down. 

But I want to thank you Sir, because your countries and yourself have assisted Jamaica in a wide area of Jamaican life, not only on the roads, not only in building courtrooms but more so in the very conditionalities of which people complain because these conditionalities, as Ambassador Alemanni has pointed out, are conditionalities to ensure that the programs and the priorities of governments are actually achieved. So it puts Ministries under task and challenges them to achieve the targets, so it is an incentive to the Ministries to do what you say you are doing, because if you don’t do it, no grant will come from the European Union. 

As a good example, it (the EU) wants legislative programs in place, so the government must move expeditiously to get that program in place, to remove, for example, corruption. Corruption is a blight on far too many areas of Jamaican life and its elimination is a priority of this government. The European Union has therefore put in place certain targets which must be achieved by the government including the passage… say of the Special Prosecutor Bill which will ensure that public officials live a decent, straight and honest life, and that I hope Ambassador Alemani will be completed next month (September).

I am putting out a message to my good friends, MP’s on both sides, that a small committee is working assiduously to ensure that all the fine tuning which are now being done can be done, so that that Special Prosecutor Bill is accepted and passed in Parliament next month. 

We want to thank you sir because your ideas, your creativity and generosity have ensured that the ordinary people of this country benefit, not just the business people, not just those in high authority, but the ordinary people of this country can see the European Union not only at work but passing on the benefit right down to the very poorest, to the vulnerable, to the weak, to the children, to the families of Jamaica, and this court house is a testimony to that generosity, to that vision, of how we can assist the weak and vulnerable in our society. 

Case in point - this court room was built not only to accommodate judges and witnesses but to ensure that the people who use it, in particular - the children, many of whom are abused, that they will be protected even when they come to this court room. So that it is not only here that the children will be, but you will see soon that there are areas within the precincts of this court for the children to get use to the idea that you may have to go into a court room to talk to judges. So there is a children’s play room, there is a children’s familiarity room, to the extent that you get them used to (a court room)… And the trauma that they will experience, in  coming to the court, we can lessen that trauma and so they can give their evidence, they can feel, should I say… at home, when they actually enter these court rooms. 

I want to thank you Ambassador and let you know that the government and people of Jamaica are forever indebted to you during your period of service. I am sure wherever you go you can reflect on Jamaica and feel happy that you did leave a legacy.

I would also like to thank Senator Dorothy Lightbourne, because she too participated in this, not only using the shovel as a spoon, (laughter) but also in ensuring that ground breaking ceremony did take place and that this court could be finished. And indeed, if the truth be known, she should be the one here opening this court room, but I am doing so for her, and she is my good friend.

I want to tell you this, we have been friends for a long time, and interestingly I hope Dorothy doesn’t mind me saying this, when I was appointed Speaker, one of the first persons to call me was Dorothy soon after she was appointed Minister of Justice and the Attorney General. She called me to say how disappointed she was because she thought that she and I would occupy those two posts, one of us as Minister of Justice and one as Attorney General and look how history has played out. Unfortunately history doesn’t say what would be the results if certain alternative decisions had been made, but I can tell you that was Dorothy’s position when this Government came to power that we should have had those two posts separated and it has now turned out that in fact that is what has happened later on.   

I want to compliment Dorothy because as I go into the Ministry I see so much work that has been done and so much work in progress, so much of what I am now doing, much of the challenges ahead, the ground work has been laid by you Senator Lightbourne. But let me say, if later on in my presentation, if I say anything that will raise eyebrows please do not blame Dorothy, I have not discussed these ideas with her.

And certainly one of the ideas - from her - which will bear enormous fruits and benefits to the justice system in Jamaica is Justice Square. That is where we have the Supreme Court, and Justice Square when it is completed will be not only an edifice and symbol, but a monument, a fountain of justice. I hope the exigencies of politics being what it is, I hope that I will be around with Dorothy and Chief Justice McCalla and we can open Justice Square and say this is what buildings that deliver and dispense justice should look like because what I see on the plan Justice Square will really be a fantastic area that Jamaicans and tourists should be able to visit and take pictures and see as a tourist attraction.

I hope that will be a credit to you Senator Lightbourne because it is your vision why it started and I hope, that life and politics and everything would be good to us, so that you will participate in that opening ceremony. (APPLAUSE)

I also would like to say appreciation to the Chief Justice; she too has worked so hard to ensure that the justice system moves on a good footing. Only Tuesday she had me, and the Permanent Secretary touring every room in the Supreme Court building to show us some of the good works that have been achieved- and so much more to be done. I would like to say Chief Justice to the extent that we from the Ministry can assist you in improving the appearance and also the dispensing of justice from the Supreme Court, we will do everything in our powers to assist. So you have our commitment. When we see someone like the Chief Justice working so hard, going the extra mile, then you, Chief Justice, must get the maximum support, and we hope that we can do so.

We are here in Hanover and Custos it is true that here in Hanover is a lovely parish, Hanover, Westmoreland are very nice parishes but not as nice as Clarendon.  I know that in Clarendon we produce so much but, Ambassador, you can see parishes struggle and compete to see which is the nicest but we are happy we are here. I want to say Custos if I may, I am begging you to appoint more JP’s. Across Jamaica there are shortages of JPs and as you see when I make my presentation the need for JPs is extremely great, because we need some more to serve in the Petty Session Court. It is unfair that we only rely on a few to serve; when if we had more JPs we could spread the burden out some more.

Ladies and gentlemen, this evening we are about to open the Family Court here in Hanover and it is really a great achievement that this court can assist families, children, in settling disputes, in overcoming abuses, in ensuring that the maltreatment of our children and sometimes of our spouses that we can eliminate them. 

There can be no doubt that the Family Court is responding to breakdowns within the family unit.  If children were cared for, protected and given the right counseling there would be no need to be taking them to a Family Court.  If fathers, in particular, were really being real fathers, a lot of the problems we have would not have ended up in the Family Court. I urge all Jamaicans and especially the JP’s who will assist us in Restorative and Community Justice, in the Child Justice policies, in the Community Justice tribunals, in the mediation tribunals, to reach out to those wayward fathers or parents, those wayward parents who have children and then believe it is the responsibility of others to take care of them, whether it is the pastors, whether it is the teachers or whether it is the state, and that it is not their responsibility. Every single woman and man who has a child must recognize that that child did not come about by the child’s decision, it was the decision of that parent and therefore the responsibility remains on both parents, not just the mother but more so the father to ensure that the children of our country can live a more decent life and in dignity. 

One of the real burdens of the Family Court is that parents are being taken there because they fail in their responsibility; fathers are being taken to Court because they fail to maintain their children. Somewhere along the line we, the leaders, will have to send a signal to the people of this country that the state can’t do everything. You, the people, will have to ensure that you solve many of these problems within your communities, that you ensure that the family unit one of the basic unit of our society that it is strengthened, that it performs the functions for which Almighty God demands that it should deliver.

 If the mothers and fathers really followed the gospel there would be no problem you know, but many of them don’t even know what I am talking about. If they really follow teachings of the Bible, or whether it is the Koran- whatever philosophy he or she would like to follow, all of them speak about the care of others. Surely it is the responsibility of our leaders, church leaders, state leaders, to send that signal to all Jamaicans that that basic unit of society-the family- needs to really pick up on the challenges and stop burdening other units of society, be it the school, the Church, or the state. 

For us to succeed, every sector, every unit of society must play its part, and there is no greater challenge in Jamaica than the need for the family to pull itself together where husband and wife can live harmoniously, where parents can deliver the care, the protection and the knowledge and information to their children to live a decent life.   

I say here in Hanover, unfortunately that far too many cases are coming to the Family Court. We are happy for this Court but we still want the cases to be reduced.  The records I have is that 24,000 cases came over the past two years, sorry 24, 000 cases per year in Westmoreland and Hanover Family Court.  Please Hanover, Westmoreland, ease the burden on my friend the Resident Magistrate because when they come to court she has to deal with most of them. I am asking JPs, Custos and other leaders within this region, please counsel our adults, counsel our children, so that fewer cases come to this court, because when they come to this court it is so traumatic. It is sometimes a tragedy when you see the behavior that occurs in Family Court, and then afterwards everything suggests that if they were kept away from court it would be better for all concerned.

I just like to say, here we have a lovely court, we have two court rooms, and one of my great concern Chief Justice is that justice should not only be easily accessible but that justice or the courts should be customer friendly. And some of the criticisms I am now hearing is that people are being kept out of the court rooms, and are being told that they can only come in if they have a case or if they have a reason to be in the court.  I am not saying it is happening in all courts but it is happening in some courts.  The court room has to be an open place. Justice has to be delivered in an open and transparent manner.  I would just like to quote or paraphrase a great English Judge Lord Atkins, lawyers will remember him from the case of Donoghue v Stevens,  he said “Justice is not a cloistered virtue, she must be allowed to suffer the scrutiny and respectful, even though outspoken, comments of ordinary men.” I would like to think as I speak this afternoon that I am an ordinary man and I would like to make a few criticism of our justice system and to say how we can move forward. 

Firstly, we must make the court room open so that people of whatever walk of life can visit and watch proceedings, it is true that in the Family Court, Divorce Courts and some courts like the Gun Courts for security purposes and because of the sensitivity of the case, we have to make them private - but generally all courts or virtually all courts must be opened to the public.   

You can see from this court room that not all members of the public can be accommodated, but once room is available in the court room any member of the public who wants to see what is happening in the deliberation and in the delivery of justice should have that opportunity to be there.

I go further, and I just would like to open a conversation Chief Justice and with all the stakeholders in the justice system, could we - in appropriate cases allow television cameras - believe me it is a conversation that needs to be discussed.  I am aware that not many judges would want that, I am aware that not many lawyers would want it, but if justice is to be open and to be seen by all Jamaicans, then the easiest way to show it is to let it be on the camera so that those who can’t visit Lucea every week, or those who can’t come to the Supreme Court every week - in appropriate places - they may or will be able to see what happens in the court room. Now I know it would be a giant leap forward not only to think about it but to have it enacted, but I say Chief Justice, let us start the conversation because I cannot see in five or ten years time that the television camera can be out of the court room.  We see it now in nearly every court room in the United States; it is happening in Europe, it is happening right across the world. And with technology we can control what goes out but at the end of the day the opportunity should be there and as I said justice is not a cloistered virtue, we must allow the public to examine and to see what is happening. 

At this time Chief Justice we have spoken and we have spoken about the use of the court room and the use of judicial time.  It is a tragedy that the court room like this is only to be used for five hours for the day. Most court rooms across Jamaica are opened from 10-1:00 and from 2:00-4:00. But what is the truth? You would think its five hours. But if you go to court, first of all, in some courts, they are not opened at 10:00 and even when they open at 10:00 the case rarely starts until 10:30, 11:00 - but at 1:00 - lunch time.  Everyone goes to lunch and the public in particular, are ready to get back in at 2 and they are in at 2:00 but rarely do you see the case restarting at 2:00 sometimes 2:15 sometime later, but at 4 it is the end of the day.

And it is not always the fault of any particular stakeholder. It is the judge, yes, who is ready and often times there to start the case but there are other stakeholders who are not ready.  In particular in criminal cases, in some cases the police DCP Frater, fail to take the prisoners on time.  The prisoners who are coming for trial should be there for 9:30, if the case is to start at 10, because they have to be processed to take in court. Sometimes, especially in the Supreme Court, you hear the siren and the prisoners coming in after 10:00. So immediately you recognize that the time cannot be utilized, sometimes it is the defense attorneys or the prosecuting attorneys who are in other courts who are late, sometimes the witnesses are not available, sometimes we do not have enough jurors. All of this suggests we are not utilizing court time efficiently and in a manner beneficial to the people of this country.

I am not saying it is the only reason, but it is contributing to the hundreds and thousands of cases that still remain to be tried in the courts, and more cases are coming on. Unless we can find and utilize all the different possibilities to deliver cases, to try and finish cases, it is the people of this country who suffer. 

Whenever a case is in the courts, lives are being kept on hold, until the case is decided, be it the accused, be it a litigant, be it the defense counsel, they have to await the decision. So until a final verdict is delivered in a case many, many lives are being held on hold, and if hundreds and thousands of cases are on hold waiting to be tried it means that hundreds and thousands of lives are on hold. What is more, may I say…when cases are being delayed it is affecting production in the country; it means that businesses may not be able to invest or to expand or to carry on what they are doing because they are awaiting a verdict.  It means that a family may not be able to decide whether or not they can move from one parish to the next or to visit abroad because the case is still to be determined.  What we are saying we need to find ways and means to determine more efficiently, in a timely manner, these cases.

And to the credit of Senator Lightbourne, and the European Union and the Chief Justice many, many things are being put in place.  We are looking at the expansion of the Resident Magistrates jurisdiction where $250,000 is the maximum. Should we increase it from $250,000 maximum, to $750,000 or $1M? And if we go more than a $1M, should we insist that there be written pleadings. These are being considered. 

We want to put in place a wider jurisdiction for the Petty Sessions Courts. This is an area that I heard Senator Lightbourne speak on repeatedly so that JPs who sit in these courts can have a wider jurisdiction to look, not only at minor offences, but also small claims. But I go further, we are to create Community Justice Tribunals, which again could be manned by JPs and it could well be that these community justice tribunals will look like Petty Sessions on Circuits, that is  Petty Sessions on  Circuit within the parishes - dealing with minor cases. Then we would be taking justice to the people within their communities.

We also have in place, Custos, it has not yet come to Hanover, but is now in Granville, in Tower Hill, May Pen, in Spanish Town - Restorative and Community Justice - where the essence of this is that wrong doers be it in the civil or the criminal courts can admit their wrongdoing and work with the victims of these wrongdoings to heal the harm that has been committed within that community.  When I mention all of these matters that need to come on stream could we also mention the Dispute Resolution Foundation that we would like to expand? Their cases can come before arbitrators or dispute resolution persons to have them sorted out.  At this moment all cases to the Supreme Court are referred to the Dispute Resolution Foundation, and Chief Justice I am so happy to hear that many of the cases that go to the DRF - over forty percent are resolved once they are referred to the DRF. So in other words almost half of them just by mediation they are resolved and they go back to the Supreme Court for a consent order. And more use can be made by litigants across the country of Dispute Resolution to take some of the burden from the court.   

But having said all this I still ask could these courts be used for some of these tribunals, for some more dispute resolution. What I am urging is that we have some decent courts, we have some good courts, well maintained, I am not denying that some are in really poor condition, but there still are buildings in which people can have a hearing and can still sit in comfort, not denying when it rains they might be flooded out, not denying that it might be very hot in the summer, but there are still places that we can sit for longer than five hours.  

There is no country, no company, no one who has ever been a success who works five hours per day. The Far East is getting ahead of us because their people are working twelve hours a day. If we are going to successfully deal with litigation in this country we have to start utilizing our courts much more efficiently. At this stage what we have to ensure is that the five hours that we spend, that they are fully and fulsomely utilized because if we visit the courts right now we would be lucky if we get an average of 15 hours for the week because on Friday and Thursday afternoons very little go on and many afternoons very little work go on because often times the cases are finished or they break down in the mornings. What I am urging, and I am merely saying that we need a conversation to really examine how we can, not only utilize the present hours efficiently, but can we have some more hours in the courts, that the court rooms can be used some more.    

I am leaving it out there, to ask all the stakeholders - Should we have a two shift system? - where we go from 8:00 to 12:30 and from 1:00 to 5:30 with a half hour break on each shift. And so those stakeholder who rather a morning shift work in the mornings, if your case is in the afternoon, get rid of chamber matters in the afternoon or if you rather afternoon shift you work in the afternoon and in the morning you get through your chamber work, you prepare your cases, or the court rooms are only going to be used in the morning shift for trials could be utilized in the afternoon or even the nights for dispute resolution on community tribunal or for other purposes. But it seems to me that these many buildings owned by government that we need to utilize them some more.

And this is a conversation that I would like the stakeholders across Jamaica to begin and let us have that discussion so we can see how we can serve the people of this country better because until we can serve the people of this country better their frustration and anger can only build up and their rights and freedom that we are to promote, protect, enhance, will not get that immediate release, that immediate expansion, unless we can assist them as leaders.

Ambassador Alemani we thank you, you have started and contributed so much to Jamaica and I hope that when you go back you can reflect on your work here and some of the things that I may have said this evening which I know raised a few eyebrows but you hope you can assist us, - don’t please put them as conditionalities as yet, (laughter) but these are things that we hope can be considered.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is so much my pleasure to be here and hope that you will enjoy this court and that this court will be a blessing to Hanover and to Jamaica, I thank you.  (APPLAUSE)

Transcript of Speech - Lay Magistrates (St. Catherine Chapter) Banquet and Award Ceremony - August 13, 2011

TRANSCRIPT:
Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck Address to the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica – St. Catherine Chapter – Banquet and Award Ceremony

Location: Arian’s Restaurant, Spanish Plaza,
Greendale Spanish Town, St. Catherine

Date & Time: August 13, 2011 @ 6: 30 p.m.

*Please note that there may be some minor typographical inaccuracies resulting from audio issues.

###

Thank you very much Mr. Gilbert Smith.

Master of Ceremonies, Mrs. Ivy Scott, JP, the Rev. Honourable Sophia Azan, Custos Rotulorum, President Rudolph Green of the St. Catherine Lay Magistrates, President of the All Island Lay Magistrates, Mr. Rion Hall, distinguished ladies & gentlemen.

I have got the big file, as you can see, but I don’t intend to keep you until midnight.  I hope you can be released before 10:00 o clock, but I hope that I can in this presentation; say something that will be of some interest to all the Justices of the Peace  (JPs) and also to their friends and families who are here.

First of all I must congratulate the Master of Ceremonies for her splendid jokes. I can’t really compete with her. But one thing I recognize that you must always yield to the ladies and indeed it is said, in a story told by Albert Einstein that great physicist; and he was asked, “What is the story behind the success of your marriage for 50 years?”  And he said when he and his wife got married they agreed that she would make all the little decisions and he would make all the big ones and that went on very happily but he said after 50 years he had always wondered how come there has been no big decisions.  Well I must tell you I do the same with my wife when she ask anything, I say “Anything you say.” And that is something to be recommended to all the men here, young and old.

When I was invited only last week to come and make a presentation to your dinner tonight they actually got a lawyer to persuade me that I must come because even though I have been on several radio programmes and television programmes I thought the first time I make a public address at least I must say what is my priority and what is my mission as Minister of Justice.  And even though I am not yet ready to give the full content and my hope of what the Ministry of Justice will do during my tenure, I was really persuaded by this lawyer and I must say you have to be very careful with lawyers. 

And the story is told in fact of three persons who were ship wrecked, a doctor, a priest and a lawyer not very far from the mainland.  The question was “Who would swim to the mainland to get rescue for the other two?”  Well the doctor said, “Not me, because it is shark infested waters, anything could happen and I need to dress the wounds.”  The pastor said, “Shark infested waters that is death, I may have to perform the last rites, so it can’t be me.” So the lawyer really had no excuse so he duly swam across, got help and the pastor and the doctor were brought back to the mainland and when they were brought back they said to the lawyer, “But how did you do it?  The shark swum beside you right over to the mainland,” and the lawyer just turned and look at them and said “professional courtesy”.   (Laughter)

As I say, I am just trying to compete with your Master Chairman (Laughter)

But this evening first of all let me congratulate the awardees.  I know they are all very well deserved, certainly the Golden Scale Award to Dr. Gladys Hyatt was certainly not only well deserved, but certainly you have impacted not only your fellow JP’s, but also on the people to whom you provide such excellent service. And to the other awardees I have no doubt that you have provided excellent, efficient and effective service to the people of your communities and that is why the President and his committee have seen it fit to make these awards.  I have no doubt that there are many more awardees for the future some of you who are here and in time you too will get the Golden Scale Award.  But I just want to say, as I listen to President Green and also to President Rion Hall, yes this Minister of Justice intends and is in the process of planning a lot of work for the JPs.  Only this week I must tell you I attended a policy meeting and we are looking at increasing the jurisdiction of the Petty Session Courts and also to look at the change of name to call it the ‘Lay Magistrates Court.’  It is still at the discussion stage but as you know my predecessor Sen. Dorothy Lightbourne asked about the need to increase the jurisdiction of the Petty Session Court and in time I will be discussing with the Custodes and the JPs just how much we can increase their jurisdiction to deal with civil matters; at the moment the figure is up to $2,000. Do we go to $10,000? To $25,000? Or what figure so that these matters can be dealt with in that Lay Magistrates Court/Petty Session Courts. And in terms of the criminal division, what other regulatory offence, simple or criminal offence, can be put before the JPs?

It means therefore that there is a great need for more JP’s and I can say to you Rev. Sophia Azan that it is a major concern not only of this Minister of Justice but also of many MP’s who with the Custodes Bill at the start of Parliament recently I insisted on putting a clause that the Custodes annually must send in their reports to the Ministry of Justice the adequacy of the number of JP’s in your community, in your parish.  And what this means is that we have to look across all communities, all the different districts so that we must and can find a person of integrity, honesty, unselfishness and someone willing to serve to be appointed.  There can be no doubt that in every community, district, parish in Jamaica there is a need for more JP’s and when we have too few JPs, the voluntary service that he or she is giving is being overburdened and that is the cry of many JPs, they have to spend so much of their time to assist their fellow citizens and for that we thank you, thank all the JPs, but it seems to me that voluntary service is something that we should be requesting more of our citizens and the question that we must ask and try to overcome, why is it we do not have more JPs?

I have written the Governor General, I think last week or early this week, to ask him to have a meeting of the Custodes, with my Ministry and myself with a view to look at more guidelines to check on the reasons or the problems that Custodies are having in appointing more JPs.  Should we be looking at appointing younger people? What criteria should we be looking at? Who should we be asking to recommend the appointment of JPs?  Is our political representative or should we be asking the JP’s themselves to recommend other persons? Should we be asking the pastors, the headmasters in the schools, the business people? 

To my mind we can easily, and we need to, double perhaps, triple the number of JPs in Jamaica of persons of uprightness, integrity, honesty, who are willing to serve the people of Jamaica, and I hope that during the course of the next few months rather than years, that this task can be undertaken so that more JPs can be appointed.  We have a training institute and I hope that with the appointment of these JPs the training can take place and hopefully we have in every community of Jamaica at least access to a JP to assist in the various services that JPs are now called upon to provide.

You hear of the work that we hope that the Minister of Justice have planned for the JPs, you will see the need for many more JPs because we do not want to overwork those who have voluntarily agreed to serve.  I can tell you that in my community in Grants Pen, Barbican, I have asked every single pastor to become a JP but more than half of them have refused as they say the work is too much. From what they see of other JPs, the work is too much and they already have pastoral duties. But it seems to me that if more persons of integrity are willing to serve it will ease the burden on everyone.  What I hope to ask the Custodes is to really encourage their colleagues of the JPs to recommend more persons and let us overcome the obstacles in the appointment of JPs because as you will hear in a few minutes some of the work that I really would ask the JPs to do. 

I could have completed my presentation tonight by simply adopting the presentation of Mr. John Golding, because he puts it succinctly, “This is our Jamaica.” We must not let it go to the rogues who would like to destroy it, we must serve and make sure that we build the Jamaica in which we must all live, work and die.  And I suspect that every single one of us inside here hope that when we do leave this earth, we would be buried here and if that is so we have the reason to make this little rock of ours the best place on earth. 

This year we celebrate our 49^th anniversary and next year we will be having a big celebration of the 50^th anniversary.  But then we must ask ourselves what have we accomplished in this half century of independence? And surely there are many, many failures.  Surely we have not accomplished and achieved what we anticipated when we got independence in 1962.  There certainly have been many setbacks, many failures and in truth the ordinary citizens of this country at this time is bewildered, frustrated, because so much is happening and the peace, the justice, the prosperity, the sense of fulfillment that we should have in a country we are not experiencing it at this time. 

(There can be no doubt … inaudible) I can say to you when you look at the Jamaica of today, many of the problems have been caused because our leaders and especially our political leaders have not led correctly, have not led and really pursued the correct path. We have been pulling and tugging, we have increase an in divisiveness in every community in Jamaica. And really and truly when you look at our Jamaica today we can say that the real problem has to do with the abuse and misuse of power and authority.  And it is not only the politicians who have misused and abused the power and authority, there are persons that are given power and given authority and they misuse and abuse them.  The question arises, surely power must be given to some to exercise some authority, but unless we have the necessary checks and balances, they will be abused.  You know it was Lord Acton who once said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” And this will always happen, unless the citizens of this country or we put in place the necessary systems, structures and arrangements to check and balance power and authority wherever they are.  And I say tonight that I would like to show the JPs how you can assist in this check and balance of power within Jamaica.  

There can be no doubt that the present administration is determined to wipe out corruption.  We can never succeed as a country if we have corrupt practices whether it is in Cabinet, Gordon House, wherever corruption is, it bleeds and eats away at the social economic structure of our country and to that extent if we are going to move forward at all, we must curb and eliminate as much as we can – corruption.  And that is why we have at the moment in Parliament the Special Prosecutor Bill which we are fine tuning and we are hoping that by September it will be passed.  I presently chair the small committee to fine tune that Special Prosecutor Bill because that Bill, when it is passed, will ensure that any person in authority, any public official who can’t show how they have their wealth will be called up before the Special Prosecutor and must explain how they have their wealth. And it is not only the politicians, any public official who engages in the public duties, if they demonstrate a lifestyle that cannot be explained from their earnings, they are in trouble. The Special Prosecutor Bill, we are fine tuning it because we don’t want the innocent to be scandalized but when a Special Prosecutor charges someone, we want to make sure that indeed the person is not only charged but that you can get a successful conviction. 

At the moment, I am working on a Bill the Impeachment Bill and that has to do with any person, politician or anyone in authority who having been appointed who engages in any misconduct or any malfeasance, and who have demonstrated that he or she should not occupy that office then impeachment will take them down. So that all public official, anyone who is appointed to a high post will know that if you do not behave in a manner becoming of your office then you could be impeached.  This government is determined that people who occupy sensitive and high position must act in a morally upright and decent manner and it will be coming on stream soon. (Applause)

I would like to say to the JP’s, even now I need your help, because this Minister of Justice thinks that the people of Jamaica should be the ones who have the power, should be the ones who enjoy the rights and freedoms not only given to them by our Lord and by nature, but provided for and secured in the Constitution.  You are aware that Chapter 3 of the Constitution was just recently revised, whereas we have removed the ability of Parliament to pass any law to curb or restrict the rights and freedoms of the Jamaican people.  This Minister of Justice would like to promote, to protect, secure and enhance the rights and freedoms of every single Jamaicans because unless each Jamaican can expand and utilize all the rights and freedoms that he or she can and should enjoy, then they are not going to attain their full potential.

When I say the rights and freedoms I mean the right to express themselves as they see fit, the right to move about, the right to privacy, the right to religion, and all these rights and freedoms must be enjoyed unfettered, except to the extent that they are limited by not interfering with other people's rights and freedoms.  In other words enjoy your rights and freedoms but don’t interfere with your neighbour’s or the man who is beside you. In other words, you can play your music as much as you like but don’t cause inconvenience to your neighbour.  Express yourself as much as you like on the radio but don’t scandalize and defame others.  Enjoy your religion but respect other people who worship differently and don’t abuse them if they don’t believe in the same interpretation of the Bible; you have your interpretation, respect others who have another interpretation. 

All these rights and freedoms must be enjoyed but it must be limited by your neighbour’s rights and freedoms to enjoy his and hers.  So we are not going to let the state interfere with the rights and freedoms of the people.  Every person must recognize that they can enjoy his or her rights and freedoms but they have the responsibility and obligation to censor it where it is going to interfere with others and that is very important for everyone to recognize. 

And one area, there is so much that I can speak on in enjoyment of rights and freedoms,  but it is one single one that I want to discuss with you tonight, that is the right and freedom to move about Jamaica as freely as possible.  Recently we had an amendment to the Jamaica Constabulary Act where we increased the time to 72 hours during which the police can hold, arrest and detain a person without charge.  First of all, let me say very clearly, we have some heartless, brutish, violent people in Jamaica.  Many of them should be locked away and you know there are people who feel you don’t need a trial…you know who they are, just lock them away. 

If Jamaica is to be governed by a rule of law we have to go through the process, so let us go through the process, but once we go through the process then we lock them away.

Now there can be no doubt that the police need our support, and we, every single one of us, must try to work with the police to ensure that those heartless, brutish individuals who don’t want to be part of our society, that we pinpoint, spear fish and collect them and prosecute them to jail. I have no problem with that and nobody will have any problem with that, but the police must act professionally, intelligently and do some more spear fishing rather than net fishing. 

I think it is wrong for police to just go into a community and sweep away every young man they can find, take them to the station and say we are going to process them.  It is wrong and it is unconstitutional because the Constitution provides that no one should be arrested or detained unless you have reasonable grounds for doing so, and those reasonable grounds for doing so maybe because it is an order of the court or maybe you anticipated that the person or you know that the person has committed an act and you need to find the evidence or you suspect that the person is about to commit a act so therefore you arrest and detain the person. It may be that you believe or the police believe that there is going to be a reprisal because something happened, so you arrest and detain a person based on some reasonable ground.  And this indeed is what the amendment to the Constabulary Force (Interim Provisions for Arrest and Detention) Act actually states, and the critics were saying that the Act is wrong, they don’t look at the reason given - that you must have reasonable ground, reasonable suspicion for the detention of the person - all they are saying is; “72 hours? This is wrong.”

But as I said in Parliament, and I am saying here tonight, any detention even for more than a few minutes, that is not based on reasonable grounds, is unlawful and the act, false imprisonment can be prosecuted in the court of law. So that whether it is one hour, 24 hours, 48 hours or 72 hours, if it is not based on reasonable grounds it is unlawful and the persons or the parties or the police and the JPs who participate in that - they are guilty of misconduct.

And in that regard, as JPs I am calling on you now to police the police properly when they come to you when they come to you and want to arrest and detain someone for any period of time. Because what this Minister of Justice wants is that no one should be detained longer than a few minutes for questioning unless you have reasonable grounds for doing so. 

You know one of the reason I brought this file is because it is the Bill that we amended that I presented in Parliament and I don’t want to read everything I would just emphasize what it is saying, that is,  when the police and the Assistant Commissioner decide to detain anyone after that person is arrested, that person or persons must be brought before a JP for the JP to sign off on the detention of that person, and if the JP is not satisfied, the JP must say “Commissioner, Superintendent, I don’t like the reason.” And I am saying to you Justices of the Peace you have to stand up, your conscience must deliver you and if you feel that when the police bring persons to you they have not given you reasonable grounds or reasonable basis for detaining that person or those persons, you must be bold enough to say, “Officer I am not satisfied,” because if you merely sign without making an assessment you are contributing to the injustice being perpetrated. 

I am begging you, I am begging you, please, when you, the JPs of this country have to sign off on the detention of persons, yes, the police may be right, yes, you must trust the police as much as possible, yes, the police may have evidence that they don’t want to reveal to you, but you are at that point the arbiter to determine whether or not that young man or young woman is going to lose freedom for 24 or 72 hours, and believe me one hour in that jail cell is not a nice thing.  Many of you have may never have been in a jail cell. But one hour in that jail cell?

And just think of what it causes to the psyche of these young men when they know they have done nothing wrong, when they know they are being chastised because they come from a poor community or a poor inner city community. Think of what they feel and believe that the big people in society doing this to them. Believe me they complain that they can’t  deal with (inaudible)  the system, because the police and the JPs are working to ensure that they are kept down in the ghettos and I’m saying Justices of the Peace, a new leaf will have to be turned over.

I have written the Minister of National Security this week to ask him to give me, on a weekly basis, a list of all persons who have been arrested and detained without charge…I intend to get that list on a weekly basis so we can examine if persons were not kept on reasonable grounds, to examine why the police did it, and why the JP signed it. Because far too many of our citizen, most of them innocent, are being locked up as punishment, and beating them to show what they can do… (Inaudible), and this is a piece of injustice that we must cut out.

And don’t get me wrong you know, there are some of these young men who deserve to be charged. But if you know they have committed wrong, make sure you have the evidence before you arrest and detain them. Having picked them up, work assiduously to gather the evidence within 72 hours. The police say they can’t do it within 24 hours, so it has been increased to 72 hours, make sure you have the evidence within 72 hours, so that the person can be charged. But when you see so many cases of persons being detained and kept in jail, not sometimes for 72 hours, but sometimes longer, and they’re not charged, you wonder why some of these persons don’t sue the government.

If the citizens of this country, some of these young men, knew their rights and freedoms, the government would be more indebted than it is right now because if the police and JP who signed that approval cannot give good reason – reasonable grounds - for detaining that person, then before the Constitutional Court, persons could be eligible for significant awards for being falsely imprisoned.

Ladies and gentlemen, I urge you, if it’s one thing we can do to remove some of these injustices …especially for these poor young men, this is one area that we need to tighten up on.

There should be no doubt that when the police engage in a raid, that there are some criminals in the batch.  But if the police is to be respected, if they are to get the support of the community including us, and you the JPs, they must be encouraged to act professionally, they must be encouraged to gather the evidence, to gather the information intelligently, so that when you engage in a raid you know who you are going for and when you catch them it’s a matter of minutes or hours before you lay the charge, and once the charge is laid, you have complied, once the evidence is there. And apart from yourselves I will also be asking the Resident Magistrates, to do more visits to the jail houses and the remand centres to make sure young men and young women are not held in these dark places.

And many of these jail houses are not fit for human beings, and they are overcrowded, when the police engages in a raid and pick up 49, you will recall in Grants Pen and lock them up, and you will recall that three of them suffocated and that is one area where I interact with the police regularly to make sure that when they do a raid and pick up people, they release them at the earliest possible time. And I’m asking you the JP to please assist in this regard. Make sure that when they are picked up that they are released at the earliest possible time so that they can enjoy their rights and freedoms.

There can be no doubt that Jamaica suffers from a serious crime problem. We know it. But they we are not going succeed by creating more injustice. I want to tell you, when we cause young men especially innocent young men to be locked away and they feel the injustice they will tell you “If I have been in the jail cell innocently, I might as well go in there for a cause.” Are you with me?

It is not a good thing, because if they have done nothing wrong and they are being locked away then the question arises, “Why shouldn’t I try a ting?” When we mete out that injustice and cause undue frustration to these young people we are merely inciting them, instigating them to engage in criminality and I say to you, that if some of us are willing to stand up for some of these innocent young men we may well get a better response from them as we try to create a better community and a better society.

And let us face it, we have a real challenge. Sure enough there is at least one good indicator in the society now and it’s that crime seems to be going down - not fast enough - but at least we must give credit to the police and the hard work that the present Commissioner and his men are doing to reduce murders and serious crimes because the figures are suggesting that their work is succeeding. And one area where I believe is causing the success is that for the past year they have been engaging in community policing.

I know community policing can succeed, we do it in Grants Pen and because we do it in Grants Pen… since I have been there. I’m not saying that you don’t have crimes in Grants Pen. But there were several serious crimes, and now one year has passed and not one murder.

I don’t like to talk about it because every time I talk about it something happens. (Laughter)

But the truth of the matter is the pastors, the JPs, the police, the political representatives, the business people we gather regularly to discuss and meet and interact with the wrong doers because we identify them and let them know, ”We know you're responsible.” Now a days as far as I understand they don’t commit the crimes in Grants Pen, a few of them go outside and engage in criminality outside, and fortunately the police are identifying them and picking them up one by one. It can happen in any community, if we engage in community policing.  Community policing is similar to the last thing I want to talk to you about Restorative Justice.

It is all about a community working together to better the community. If you look at the back of your book, and I was very happy to see it, there is the principle there on restorative justice and it is well put and I don’t need to discuss it at length.

I know your awardees, your president and Mr. Phillips Keane-Dawes, Mr. Kenneth Burton and a number of other persons are engaged in restorative justice. We are now putting in four communities: Spanish Town, May Pen, Granville in St. James and Tower Hill in Kingston. And it is working. And what is restorative justice? If I may just briefly explain, I urge every single JP to buy into this programme because in restorative Justice.

With restorative justice we are making the victim and the wrong doer try to repair the harm that was caused by the wrong doer. In essence, where as in the present system of retributive justice the victim is not seen as a major player, apart from giving evidence in court, it is the state that goes after the wrong doer. What restorative justice is trying to say is, rather than retributive, retaliatory, reprisal, which is what presently happens, let us see if we can make the wrong doer accept responsibility, for which he is being charged or being pointed out as the person responsible, accept responsibility for it and see how you can repair the damage you have caused, not only to the victim, but to the community.

And it is for the community to work with the wrong doer to say “yes we know you have done wrong but we are willing to work with you if you accept the responsibility and admit that you have engaged in conduct that not only did it cause harm to the victim, but has certainly damaged the well being of the community.” 

And to that extent, it seems to me that if we work on it that way, we can pull wrong doers, the victims and ask members of the community to come together to heal the wound, to repair the damage and to that extent, because I don’t want to keep you here until midnight, I just ask you to please, buy into the programme, get in touch with your president Mr. Phillip Keane-Dawes and learn some more about restorative justice. We are going to launch it in many other communities, I’m going to speak about it more fully, but because I saw it in the booklet... (Inaudible)

I think that many of you understand the principle, it is a principle, it is a system, it is an activity that can really assist communities to remove the wrong doers or just get the wrong doers to mend their ways. It’s a system whereby communities can pull together and really lift themselves, not only psychologically, but socially and economically. And so far it has worked beautifully in other countries. And here in Jamaica in the four communities there seem to be a fair degree of success.

So I’m going to urge you JPs to please buy into the programme, participate in the programme, I know you’re already overworked, but this is one area where we can really pull Spanish Town and pull St Catherine up. Because there are going to be many persons who engage in wrong doing but we need to sit with them to let them know that we know you are the wrong doer and rather than carting you off to the police station or to jail, we are willing to work with you, if you want to work with us, but if you don’t want to work with us, then its jail.

But at the very minimum, for the government, it is a cost to keep them in jail. It is also a cost to the community, because after you have spent time in jail, they come back to the community worst off than how they went, unfortunate, but it’s the truth. And to the extent that we can tame a number of our young people to really bring them back into the fold and to become a useful person in the community, the better it will be for Jamaica.

Ladies and Gentlemen there is so much more that one could say but as Mr. (John) Golding said, “This is our Jamaica.” We have to work for it, and unless we are vigilant, we will not be enjoying the rights and freedoms that we must enjoy, that we deserve. So I call on you to please, help Jamaica, help our communities.

 I wish you God’s blessings; I thank you (Applause)