Chief Justice Zaila McCalla inspects the guard of honour during the opening of the Home Circuit Court on King Street in downtown Kingston on Wednesday. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

In an effort to reduce the huge backlog plaguing the justice system and put an end to frequent adjournments of cases set for trial, case management of criminal matters is to start in January next year.

Chief Justice Zaila McCalla made the announcement on Wednesday when she opened the Michaelmas session of the Home Circuit Court, which was marked with a colourful ceremony in front of the courthouse on King Street, downtown Kingston.

The chief justice said that, "To efficiently manage criminal cases, the courts will have to move towards a criminal case management system."

She said that, in the existing scenario, there was no other choice.

January start

"The commencement of the new term in January 2010 will see the beginning of that project in one of these courts," the chief justice announced. Cases are currently being set for trial, when not even the medical certificates and forensic reports were ready, the chief justice said.

McCalla is aware that, for several years, there have been complaints about the backlog of cases, and promises were made term after term to reduce the backlog but there was no change.

She said the assertion that no change occurred was not correct because there had been valued efforts by judges and attorneys-at-law for the prosecution and the defence which have resulted in significant reduction of the list of cases. She said those inroads were fleeting and not noticeable because the list continued to grow "because the rate of crime increases and more and more cases continue to come before the court.''

Steering committee

The chief justice has set up a steering committee, led by the judiciary and including representatives of the law associations, the office of the Director of Public Prose-cutions, the Ministry of Justice and the Jamaica Constabulary Force. She said the committee was spearheading the implementation of case management techniques and principles in the criminal court system.

Criminal case management will aim to deal with issues including the legal representation of the accused, pleas and, more important, timetables for all concerned parties to complete necessary preparation, disclosures and issues relating to witnesses.

The chief justice said case management had been successfully used in the civil jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

Case management in civil cases was implemented in 2001 to reduce the backlog.

The new term has 395 criminal cases listed for trial, of which 187 are murder cases and 115 are sexual offence cases.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com