IT WAS altogether appropriate and commendable for Supreme Court judge Kay Beckford to use the occasion of the opening of the new court calendar to comment on the state of the Jamaican society, pointing out that it has become coarse and lacking in civility. Her words, robed as they were, so to speak, in the pomp and circumstances of the start of the Michaelmas court term, carried extra weight.
Judge Beckford went on to speak out against the trend to negativism by persons of influence which she felt was demoralising the society. In so doing, she faced her own paradoxical dilemma for, although she was abhorring negativity on the one land, she was, on the other, drawing to public attention the deterioration which has taken place in sensibility and manners which she sees as damaging the social fabric.
This is the same dilemma newspapers face in trying to maintain a balance between reporting on what is good and what is bad in our country. In this connection, a newspaper is much like the keel of a sailing vessel without which the ship would capsize and sink in a storm at sea. The greater the force of the storm winds against the sails, the greater counter-force the water exerts on the submerged keel, thus keeping the ship in balance. The Ship of State needs many different keels to keep it from sinking, one of the most important being the judiciary of which Mrs. Beckford is a sterling exemplar.
Whether a numbers game or not, as Judge Beckford implies, the new court calendar is faced with a heavy load of cases, some traversed from the previous session and many new murder cases. Because of lack of updated technology, failure to modernise the codex of our laws and a shortage of judges, the Jamaican justice system is creaking along and occasions long delays which the ordinary citizens sees as justice denied.
Even as we urge Jamaicans to heed Judge Beckford's criticisms, we urge the political directorate to bring more balance to the justice system by providing it with the resources which it so badly needs.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
