It is with hope that citizens who have to rely on Jamaica's justice system, widely acknowledged to be stressed and inadequate, welcome the Canadian Advisory Committee which is on a fact-finding mission here, and for consultations with the broad-based Jamaican Justice Reform Task Force, with a view to making recommendations for a comprehensive reform of the system.

The system did not develop its weaknesses overnight. Various deficiencies have developed as the nation has grown in population and has struggled to deal with its social and economic problems while trying to meet the increasing demands being made on the system.

It is therefore about time that the government undertakes this comprehensive reform of a system that has been creaking at the joints since Independence.

As outlined, the project will enquire deeply into the state of the system and develop strategies and mechanisms to facilitate a modernisation programme to enhance the administration and delivery of justice to meet the current and future needs of the Jamaican citizenry.

The stated objective is to make practical recommendations for action, focusing on proposals that will be implementable within a reasonable time. The objective is a modern justice system that will be more efficient, accessible, accountable, fair and able to deliver timely results in a cost-effective manner - all laudable goals that demand bipartisan support.

Few countries could claim to have had their problems studied and reported on to the extent that Jamaica's have been over the years. The recommendations from relatively few of these reports have been implemented and with very little effect. Task forces on crime are a prime example.

The Jamaican Justice Reform Task Force which has been appointed to collaborate with the Canadian Advisory Committee, is broad-based enough to allow for a deep and comprehensive report to be completed by June 2007. Source of funding and time of implementation are yet to be announced.

There are several problems with the justice system, however, that can be fixed almost immediately and at relatively little cost to taxpayers. For instance, the oft-pointed out absence of handrails at the jury boxes in the Home Circuit Court resulted recently in two jurors falling as they were walking out of the box. Surely, such handrails could be provided in a week.

The Supreme Court building on King Street could do well with a fresh coat of paint and some maintenance. Its appearance hardly enhances the admiration generally accorded to a nation's primary seat of justice. In the Corporate Area of Kingston and St. Andrew where the State has much unoccupied office space, the location of the Traffic Court and the Coroner's Court causes undue hardship to citizens. The conditions under which staff work are hardly much better. In some rural parishes, there are courthouses that border on the ramshackle.

We look forward to the recommendations of the Jamaican Justice Reform Task Force and hope that early implementation will result in improvements in the justice system similar to those being brought about by the Justice, Training Institute which has been quietly making a name for itself not only here but throughout the Caribbean.

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