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Courts to get new technologies

January 16, 2017
Justice Minister Hon Delroy Chuck (second right), cuts the ribbon to launch the Legal Aid bus at the ministry on Constant Spring Road last Friday. He is assisted by Legal Aid Council Chairperson, Jacqueline Cummings (right) and Head of Cooperation at the Canadian High Commission, Walter Bernyck (third left). Others (from left) are Social Marketing Coordinator of the Citizen Security and Justice Programme, Jacqueline Nephew; Country Representative of the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID), David Osbourne; Executive Director of the Legal Aid Council, Hugh Faulkner and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Carol Palmer.

Justice Minister Hon Delroy Chuck says the ministry is ready to roll out audiovisual and transcript technology to be used in at least 70 courts across the country.

Speaking at the launch of the Legal Aid Mobile Unit at his Constant Spring Road offices in St Andrew last Friday, Chuck said the technology will enable the proper archiving of records for what transpires in the courts.

"We won't have judges or court reporters taking notes. We will simply have a recorder doing everything that happens in the court," he said.

The mobile unit, which has been designed to offer services to people most in need of a criminal lawyer, represents another strategy by the Justice Ministry to take its services to the citizens of Jamaica, primarily those in the rural and inner-city communities.

Others services to be offered by the bus include restorative justice, mediation, and victim support.

Chuck said the mobile unit will support the ministry's priority in improving access to justice for everyone, and getting legal representation for persons unable to afford counsel, such as the mentally ill and vulnerable.

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