COURT of Appeal President Justice Paul Harrison is hopeful that the two-day criminal case management seminar for members of the judiciary held at the Jamaica Conference Centre over the weekend will help judges to dispense with criminal cases at a faster rate, and by so doing cut the heavy backlog of cases.

Case management, which was established in the civil division of the Supreme Court in January 2003, has speeded up civil cases, and Justice Harrison was optimistic that it would have the same effect on the criminal aspect of justice.

Case management, Justice Hassison said, has been one of the pillars on which the civil court has used to swiftly deal with the issues involved. "Today we are going to embark on the criminal aspect of it. I am sure that with the heavy backlog that we have and the criminal case load.this exercise will help us in bringing to conclusion our cases much more swiftly," Justice Harrison said.

He said that it was necessary for the system to be upgraded to enable justice to be dispensed fairly, quickly and for it to be done in a way "in which the populace and the people of Jamaica will be satisfied and that they can have confidence in our system".

Justice John Thomas, a judge of the High Court of England and Wales and one of two facilitators at the seminar, told the opening ceremony Friday that the application of the principles of case management of criminal justice was embarked upon in Britain four years ago.

The other facilitator was Justice Peter Gross, a HIgh Court judge assigned to the Queen's Bench and Commercial Court in the UK.

"The objective is to produce a system that is as economical as possible, as quick as possible in getting cases to circuit but above all we must produce a just result giving people the confidence in criminal and civil justice," Justice Thomas said.

He said that it was a "constant struggle" to achieve all of the three objectives.

Meanwhile, Carol Palmer, the permanent secretary in the justice ministry, who also spoke at the opening session of the seminar, assured Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe and Justice Harrison that details of the reform agenda for the justice system would be outlined to them directly. She said that the seminars on criminal case management were part of the reform.

Prime Minister P J Patterson said last Monday that a comprehensive five-year reform of the criminal justice system proposed by the justice ministry would be given priority budgetary support in 2006/2007. He said that reform unit was to be established in the ministry to give focus and priority to the reforms.

The reforms include:
. A structured programme of infrastructural upgrading of court facilities and the construction of new ones.

. Automation of the DPP's office and the courts to facilitate an efficient case flow management system.

. Regionalisation of the Supreme Court into three regional centres in Manchester, St Ann and St James.

. Regionalisation of the Justice Training Institute and Court Reporting Programme.

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'

Cheeky's World