JUSTICE Minister Delroy Chuck says the project to make Jamaica’s court system paperless, slated to get underway this fiscal year, is to cost the Government approximately US$ 5 million or the equivalent of J$780 million for software and training over the next two years.

The justice minister, who said “paperless operations will be a game-changer for the Jamaican courts”, stated that additional funds will be spent to acquire more hardware.

Chuck, who was speaking at the opening ceremony of Chief Justices and Heads of Judiciaries of the Caribbean Conference 2024 at AC Marriott Hotel in St Andrew on Wednesday evening, said the project is part of a “bilateral agreement with the Government of Rwanda to introduce technology for our court system to become paperless”.

In November 2022 a Jamaican delegation, which included Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, visited Rwanda to study its justice system, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The visit was highlighted by technical exchanges on Rwanda’s progressive work in alternative justice and technology-driven case management.

“We visited Rwanda and saw how they have a paperless system. No files in court, just laptops or computers, and that is where we want to go as quickly as possible,” Chuck had reported after the visit.

Speaking on Wednesday, the justice minister said the Jamaican Government stands ready to provide additional resources to make a further dent in disposing of cases, adding that the judiciary will be further strengthened and positioned.

Sykes had advocated in 2021 for a fully integrated legal system similar to East Africa’s Rwanda where prosecutors, defence attorneys and judges have access to all the material relevant to an investigation on a single platform.

It’s a development which he said would eliminate myriad problems when matters are being tried.

Speaking then at the launch of a series of training videos at the Office of the Commissioner of Police, entitled ‘Digital Footprints: From Crime Scene to Courtroom’, which will be used as instructional material for investigators, the chief justice said it’s a step in the right direction.

“Ultimately where we need to go is what really happens in Rwanda; their legal system is now fully integrated between the investigation, the courts and lawyers for the defence where it is really one platform that everything is on, and you control the access through appropriate passwords and clearances, and so on. So, everybody is having access to the same material and so you avoid this problem of the judge looking at one thing and counsel saying I don’t have this and the prosecutors saying I don’t have this from the police,” the chief justice told the gathering.

“So, from the outset when the police are preparing their files, the prosecutors begin to have access to it, so too the judges and so too defence counsel, and so that is where we have to get to ultimately if we are to realise the full benefits of modern technology,” he said further.

According to the chief justice, the development of the videos demonstrated the presence of a police force and a prosecutorial department that are prepared to establish standards, and a country on its way to becoming a mature and developed society.

“This feeds into what we are doing inside the judiciary, and this is in establishing time standards for ourselves,” he said, noting that the development will go a very far way in helping the courts achieve the time standards set for cases to be disposed of.

“Because it means that when it comes to questions of disclosure that will now be much easier and I have observed within recent times increased use of technology to make the disclosure to defence counsel; still having some teething pains there, but it’s a step in the right direction,” he noted at the time.