Give Chuck our support
Dear Editor,
Much has already been done. There is still much more to be accomplished. Let us encourage judges to heed the new justice minister’s call for the dismissal of cases five years or older. This will guarantee Jamaica a more efficient and fair justice system.
We must acknowledge the work that has already been done by the Justice Reform Implementation Unit and the Justice Undertaking for Social Transformation (JUST). With their mission to reform Jamaica’s justice system, many new, time-saving technologies and legislation have been introduced. Computers have been provided to courtrooms, along with digital recorders, new filing systems, and expanded physical space.
The backlog of cases is still, however, grotesque. If Jamaica is to lead the way in the Caribbean with justice reform, we must get this particular section of the justice system under control. In First World countries, it is considered frightening to see average cases take longer than one year. Jamaica, even with our funding limitations, needs to do better.
There is much support for Minister Delroy Chuck’s five-year limitation period in the case law that already exists with regard to the death penalty. The 1993 case of Pratt & Morgan v The Attorney General of Jamaica is the focal point for the first real limitation on the imposition of the death penalty in the Commonwealth Caribbean. In Pratt, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council established that in any execution taking place more than five years after sentencing, there would be a “strong presumption” that the delay amounted to inhuman and degrading punishment or treatment contrary to the Jamaican Constitution. The final result of this would be that a death penalty sentence should be converted to life imprisonment.
Death penalty justice did not stop there, and neither should Minister Chuck. The 2001 case of Neville Lewis et al v The Attorney General of Jamaica sealed the deal and created the “Five-Year Rule”, building upon the strong presumption for commutation to life imprisonment pronounced in Pratt. After the Neville Lewis case, now, by law, cases where more than five years have elapsed since the date of a death sentence must be converted to life imprisonment.
In light of the fact that the courts have already declared it unconscionable to have a man waiting for more than five years for a sentence to be carried out, it is likely that Chuck arrived at his five-year pronouncement with the “Five-Year Rule” from the death penalty jurisprudence in mind. As a seasoned attorney and politician, we can only hope that Minister Chuck will be able to formulate the proper procedure for judges to follow for areas where these procedures are not already established. As a seasoned attorney and politician, we can only hope that this is not just ‘talk’ and that indeed by the end of 2016, Chuck will be well on his way to cleaning up our overburdened justice system. We want justice!
Lisa-Marie Elliott
Attorney-at-law
Lmelliott8@gmail.com