KINGSTON (JIS):

Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Senator Dorothy Light-bourne, says it will cost approximately $103 million annually to deal with the backlog of cases in the courts.

Lightbourne was making her contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate on Friday.

She said several measures have been implemented to deal with the backlog.

"We have increased the number of (court) masters from one to no less than four, and recruitment is now under way. Legislation has also been amended to increase the number of resident magistrates by eight. This will include two judges for the Family Court," Lightbourne said.

Additional courtrooms

The number of prosecutors in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has also been increased by 12, and other staff additions will be made in the Supreme Court and the Office of the DPP.

Three additional courtrooms have been made available in the Supreme Court to deal with criminal matters. Two of these are being used for Gun Court hearings, making a total of three Gun Courts. This has been done by shifting civil matters to the three caucus rooms at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, since mid-October last year.

The Jury Act has also been amended to allow for the expansion of the jury pool as well as to enable the registrar of the Supreme Court to make appropriate arrangements for the serving of summonses on jurors.

"In addition, the Director of Public Prosecutions is undertaking a review of cases, so as to strike out those which are merely clogging up the system," Lightbourne said.

She noted that another of the strategies being employed was the introduction of case management, targeting the criminal courts.

Move to meet targets

She said the successful implementation of case management would improve the ability of the courts to set performance targets, and predict the conclusion of cases brought before the courts.

She noted that the British Government has offered its assistance in this endeavour, specifically in preparing the judges, members of the public and the private Bar and staff of the criminal registry for the introduction of case management.