George Taylor* has a criminal matter before the court and says he is frustrated with the long period he has to wait for the matter to be tried. He wants to know if the Ministry of Justice has plans to address this perennial problem.

ENSURING the fair and timely resolution of cases is one of the ministry's strategic priorities for this financial year. As such, the Ministry of Justice has begun implementation of case management in Jamaica's criminal courts.

Criminal case management will aim to address issues, including the legal representation of the defendant, the defendant's plea, trial dates and timetables for all concerned parties to complete necessary preparation, disclosures and issues related to witnesses.

Background to criminal case management

The Jamaica Justice System Reform Task Force Report, submitted to the Government of Jamaica in June 2007, recommended a criminal case-management system.

Why criminal case management?

There are long delays between the date when a matter first comes before the court and the trial date.

Too much of the court's time is spent dealing with pre-trial matters.

A great deal of time is wasted at trials addressing issues, which could have been explored in pre-trial proceedings.

Several cases in backlog and still not ready for trial.

Signs of incomplete preparation at trials.

The basic principle of criminal case management includes:

Early identification of the real issues. The parties must identify the real issues in cases at an early stage.

Each hearing should focus on the real issues and should be as short as possible.

Matters which may be unresolved or new matters which may arise should be dealt with at the plea and case-management hearing.

There should be only as many hearings as are necessary. Unnecessary hearings must be avoided by dealing with as many aspects of the case as possible at the same time.

The objective is to do all that is necessary to make the pre-trial hearing the last hearing.

The court must take the defendant's plea and the parties must make necessary preparation for this to be done.

Adjournments should take place only when absolutely necessary.

The parties must complete the prescribed Plea and Case Management Hearing Questionnaire in order for the court to be adequately informed in order to manage the case.

Parties must prepare their cases adequately and comply with directions given, e.g. getting witnesses to court, making arrangements for the efficient presentation of written evidence or other material and promptly warn the court or other parties of potential problems.

Where are we?

In November 2008, the British government's Foreign and Commonwealth Office undertook to fund a capacity-building project for case management in the criminal division of Jamaican courts. The project is being funded to the extent of £202,000 and covers the following areas:

a. Engagement of consultants to develop training modules, training manuals and deliver training.

b. Organisation and conduct of 10 training sessions for at least 200 participants.

c. Public awareness/education campaign.

In February 2009, two United Kingdom judges conducted another seminar on criminal case management for judges of the Jamaican Court of Appeal and Jamaican Supreme Court judges.

As a result of a decision taken at the seminar, a steering committee was established.

The programme has now moved into the public awareness/ education phase. A public relations consultant has joined the steering committee and is currently employed to design and implement a public awareness/education campaign for the programme.

The chief justice, a senior judge, resident magistrate, director of the Justice Training Institute and the public relations consultant participated in a study tour of the UK, where they visited various UK courts and observed criminal case management in action.

Proposed rules for criminal case management are currently with the Rules Committee.

A training and sensitisation seminar was facilitated by a member of the UK defence Bar.

Further training and sensitisation of defence attorneys, resident magistrates, clerks of the court and court administrators is scheduled for this month.

Future plans include the implementation of a pilot project in four courts in the Hilary term of 2010 and the return of the UK judges to conduct a final seminar and evaluation of the pilot before it is implemented in other courts across the island.

A draft questionnaire for criminal case management is available for discussion.