Justice Minister to hold plea bargaining talks with DPP

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Delroy Chuck, says a meeting will be held with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to discuss the use of plea bargaining within the courts.

Chuck argued that, currently, far too many cases are being tried within the court system.

“At the Ministry of Justice level, we want to help to see how best we can get matters moving. I have pointed out many times, in America, 90 per cent of the cases in all the courts are completed by plea bargaining. In some states, it’s higher… as high as 98 per cent… less than five per cent of the cases are actually tried. That is something which I believe that the DPP… and the Clerks of Court will have to find a way where they can initiate with the defence how they can plead guilty and bargain over sentence, or even bargain on a lesser charge,” he stated.

“These are matters that I think are very important. We must find ways and means to complete these criminal cases within a reasonable time. Once they go outside the reasonable time, in all sincerity, they should be thrown out because they are unconstitutional… they have breached the Constitution,” Chuck added.

The Minister was speaking during the Judiciary of Jamaica’s annual Strategic Management Retreat, held at AC Hotel by Marriott Kingston on Monday.

Chuck also highlighted the role of mediation in improving the efficiency of the justice system, noting that the approach has yielded positive results in the Parish Courts.

He noted that a number of parish court judges have been referring matters to mediation, adding that, last year more than $50 million was paid to mediators who were able to successfully resolve approximately 80 per cent of the cases referred to them.

Chuck also disclosed that he will travel to Singapore later this week to examine that country's mediation framework.

“The Mediation Act was passed by the Lower House, and we are hoping the Senate will pass it in September. But I really want to urge Jamaicans to mediate before they litigate. Now, yes, when they come to court, my hope is that at the… case management level, matters can be referred to mediation. But I even want to urge Jamaicans to see if you can mediate before you litigate, to take off as close to 50 per cent, as possible, of the matters coming to the courts,” he stated.

“With mediation, I hope to be able to convince Jamaicans it is in their best interest to mediate because it’s a win-win situation for the parties. When they go to court, the judge makes a decision… one is a loser, and one is a winner. So, these are matters which I’m really hoping that I will be able to assist the court in getting completed as quickly as possible and, hopefully, assist in reducing the backlog and making court matters only dealing with complex issues rather than day-to-day, run-of-the-mill disputes and settlements,” Chuck added.

- JIS News

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