Cutting court case backlog
June 25, 2008
The issue of the huge case backlog in the court system was among the matters highlighted at a Gleaner Editors' Forum yesterday. During the discussion, Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne identified a number of initiatives to tackle the problem:
Increase the number of prosecutors at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) by seven.
Employ three paralegal clerks to the office to monitor case files.
Increase the number of judges in the Court of Appeal by three.
Increase the number of Supreme Court judges by six.
Increase the number of judges in the Resident Magistrate's courts.
Remove the power of serving summonses for jury duty from the police and give it to the court registrar for civilians to serve the summonses.
Assign an officer from the Office of the DPP to help the police prepare cases.
Instruct the DPP to examine cases with no chance of progressing with a view to having them thrown out.
Author: Gleaner Reporter
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
