THE current status of the justice reform implementation process, as far as the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is concerned, was outlined by Director Paula Llewellyn recently. She also reviewed the actions to be taken and their timelines, specifically on the proposals to address the challenges facing the justice system in order to re-establish trust, achieve greater access, efficiency and equality in delivering the system.

She was speaking at a public forum recently on the justice system which has been lagging behind. There were two other presenters: the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Senator Dorothy Lightbourne and Chief Justice Zaila McCalla. Chairman was Hugh Small, distinguished attorney-at-law.

Llewellyn led off with the challenges facing the justice system. She listed these as:

* Delay in disposing of cases –adjournments from both the defence and prosecution granted by the court; volume of cases that has increased proportionate to the increase in crime over the last few years. For instance, there are 395 cases to be tried in the Home Circuit Court alone, including 187 murder cases for the 2009 Michaelmas Term. Some of these cases are complex and will take a long time to be tried, spanning from two to seven weeks.

* Insufficient jurors evident in

some parishes.

* Witnesses refusing to attend court for a variety of reasons, the main one being the culture of silence. There is also lethargy/apathy, corruption in some cases where the witness is “bought out” and is therefore compromised. She suggested an intensified public education programme to sensitise the public as to the critical role that witnesses play in the trial of cases before the courts. The members of the public need to be aware that the prosecution has to prove its case against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt which is a high threshold. In all cases, witnesses are essential to the proof of the cases. However, in some cases, tendering the deposition or statements of an absent witness would not be appropriate in the interest of justice.

The culture of delay which is embedded in the psyche of some legal practitioners has become almost a defence in facilitating the disposal of cases. Consequently, the Crown has to enter a nolle prosequi to discontinue roceedings or try to utilise section 31 (d) of the Evidence Act in an attempt to prosecute the matter or as a last resort offer no evidence sometimes at the insistence of the court. “In keeping with our mandate and constitutional responsibilities, we ensure that the public interest is not undermined in any way in making these decisions,” Llewellyn said. Continuing, she said that any vision of a modern prosecution service achieving its mandate and assuming proper leadership role in

Jamaica’s justice system will require significant resources, both human

and financial. Notwithstanding the financial constraints, the ODPP on occasion used self-help to contribute to its development.

Llewellyn said that the challenges facing the justice system have to be met and she pointed out that various units have been established so that matters which go to the ODPP can be dealt with expeditiously and to enable the office to operate as a modern institution that is governed by contemporary principles and practices of public sector management among which openness and accountability are key. These units embrace extradition, mutual legal assistance, financial crimes, financial services, human rights and intellectual property/sexual offence and human trafficking, Privy Council, corruption prevention and coroners’ matters, labour relations and industrial disputes, environmental, legislative and legal reform, clerks of court, Gun Court matters, digital evidence and cyber crimes.

Another important move by the DPP’s office is the formulation of a code of conduct for prosecutors using as a guide a combination of the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand and United Kingdom codes for crown prosecutors. The Jamaican code will be formulated to ensure that transparency and accountability are maintained by prosecutors so that in essence there can be codified guidelines in respect of a decision to prosecute or not to prosecute. This process is expected to be completed in 2010.

The DPP also discussed the implementation of the pilot project for criminal case management which is coming on stream next year and which aims to utilise court time efficiently by listing cases that are actually ready for trial and deal with all pre-trial issues, so that when a matter is placed on the court list it is truly ready for trial. The number of prosecutors will be increased from 31 to 40 by next year.

A lot of the improvement at the ODPP will minimise the delay in the justice system. This is good for, as is often said in Jamaica, justice delayed is justice denied.