A national victim information and notification system (NVINS) akin to the one that exists in the United States to provide real-time notifications on critical developments in criminal cases — including court dates, bail decisions, parole status, and any changes in the offender’s location or release — is one that Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Claudette Thompson can see melding with the work of her office.

The tool, which exists in several jurisdictions outside Jamaica, typically notifies victims of crimes about the status change of an offender and is confidential, free, and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Thompson, who says currently a semblance of this function is carried out by one individual within the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, is of the opinion that it would take some 15 individuals to adequately cover the ground in the absence of an electronic system.

“In the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, we have one paralegal assigned who bears the title witness care officer. That paralegal’s job is to get in touch with victims, more specifically victims/complainants of sexual offences and witnesses in sexual offence cases, and if I do say so myself, she does a good job, but you will appreciate she is one person and there are just so many of these matters in the Home Circuit Court alone and the function is to get in touch with those persons,” Thompson told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

Noting that the present system is a “far removed step-cousin to that system — national victim information and notification system — that exists in the United States”, Thompson said, “we would need so many more persons for us to have what could be called a unit of witness care officers; we would need at least 15 persons and dedicated phone lines.

“But there is no such post under the establishment, she is actually a paralegal who has been assigned this task. Not only does she get in touch with them and update them for court, she actually takes them through their statements and preps them for court to the extent that she makes them comfortable going into the courtroom to give their evidence,” Thompson explained.

The budgetary constraints are another factor Thompson said, pointing out that the recently renovated DPP office has had to be shuttered for urgent rehabilitative work in recent weeks because of a mould problem.

“The office is reeling from the mould situation, it’s still not been addressed yet so all of the attorneys are working from home. The administrative staff work week on, work off and that is at the Justice Training Institute, and our registry staff, work at the Ministry of Justice and downtown in what was the witness room, because it is kind of sealed off from the rest of the building and to the naked eye the mould has not made its way there yet. But, whatever money we have now [left in the budget] will go towards renovating the building so we can get in there as quickly as possible,” Thompson said.

Said the acting director of public prosecutions, “It’s a system we would love, not just to alert people in terms of when the appeals come up and when persons are back on the streets, but to alert persons before trial to say, ‘You made a report to the police, John Brown has been charged,’ I would love us to have that system.”

“I own the fact that we have a duty and a responsibility to keep our clients informed and I think we share that responsibility with the police. But even if we don’t have the manpower, technology could support that kind of activity,” she added.

The sentiment is one shared by Dr Dacia Leslie, senior research fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social & Economic Studies of The University of the West Indies, Mona, who in a recent interview with the Observer, said the system would cauterise the situation where many victims or survivors of crime are left in the dark about important developments in their cases.

Leslie, who is also chair of the Crime Prevention & Offender Management Research Cluster, in responding to queries from the Observer as to the utility of such a system in the island, said, “although there have been various efforts to improve victim support and communication, these initiatives remain fragmented and have not yet been integrated into a cohesive, national system for real-time victim or survivor notifications”.

“As it stands, many victims or survivors are left in the dark, unaware of important developments in their cases. This uncertainty fosters anxiety and increases the risk of retaliation and further harm. In many instances, victims may not be promptly informed if an offender is granted bail, released, or transferred to another facility. Such delays can lead to precarious situations where victims are unprepared or unaware of potential threats,” Leslie said.

“Moreover, for those unfamiliar with the legal process, navigating the system can be overwhelming. Limited access to legal resources, combined with a limited understanding about how the judicial system works, further exacerbates the problem, particularly for especially vulnerable witnesses,” she said further.

“The development and sustained implementation of an NVINS would, therefore, be a significant step forward in enhancing witness care in Jamaica. Such an initiative could improve client-centred care, increase victim safety, foster greater public trust in the justice system, and better protect vulnerable individuals,” the senior research fellow said.

LESLIE…the development and sustained implementation of a national system would be a significant step forward in enhancing witness care in Jamaica