Minister of Justice, Delroy Chuck, says the island’s Parish Courts are now effectively backlog free.
He made the disclosure during his contribution to the 2024/2025 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on May 21.
“The statistics show that less than 2.5 per cent of cases are in backlog, which means these cases have not been tried in 24 months. To put it differently, approximately 98 per cent of cases are completed within 24 months. Close to 90 per cent of all the cases are tried and completed within 12 months,” Chuck stated.
He noted that this was an outstanding achievement of which Jamaicans can be extremely proud.
“It means that when they go to the Parish Courts, they can get their matters adjudicated in a timely manner. The likelihood is that before long, 100 per cent of cases will be tried and completed within 18 months in the Parish Courts,” the minister said.
He noted that going forward, the Parish Courts’ mission is to complete simple cases within three months, standard cases within six months, complex cases within 12 months and all cases within 18 months.
Chuck also informed that over the past years, the Court of Appeal’s clearance rate has peaked over 100 per cent to 111 per cent in 2022 and 118 per cent in 2023.
He explained that this means that of every 100 new cases filed, 111 or 118 have been completed.
“We expect that this steady improvement will continue. Regarding the backlog in the Supreme Court, the clearance rate is not yet 100 per cent, but it was at 76.5 per cent in 2023. However, with the new Strategic Plan, the Chief Justice is projecting that in another five years or so, clearance rate in the Supreme Court will be in excess of 100 per cent and backlog will soon become a thing of the past in courts right across Jamaica,” Chuck said.
The minister also informed that the Chief Justice has embarked on a new Strategic Plan for 2024 to 2028, which can be accessed on the website of the Supreme Court.
He said that the Executive and the Parliament will provide the necessary resources needed by the courts to support this new strategic plan and to perform with little or no disruption.
“We have continued to renovate most of our courts and, indeed, the most recent renovation in Clarendon is a model of what a parish court can become. In other courts, we have provided improved equipment, technology and new furniture. Even though more work needs to be done to upgrade and modernise, we can boast that the court facilities are in fairly good condition across Jamaica,” Chuck added.
Meanwhile, from 2016 to 2023 the number of the Appeal Court judges increased from seven to 13, Supreme Court Judges increased from 30 to 42, Masters in Chambers from four to eight and Parish Court judges from 50 to 71.
In addition, the number of prosecutors increased from 42 to 58 at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Chuck also noted the improved salaries of the Judiciary, while informing that in 2016 Judges were receiving a compensation package of approximately $12 million per annum.
In 2023, the figures were significantly increased, with judges in the high court potentially earning approximately $30 million per annum in their compensation package.
