Time to Come Clean

Photo Caption - Justice Minister Delroy Chuck greets US Ambassador Donald Tapia at Justices of the Peace Sensitization session for St. James. Also in attendance were (left) Executive Director NIA Professor Trevor Munroe and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice Sancia Bennett-Templar. The session was held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on Friday December 6.

Justice Minister Urges Criminals to Give Evidence against Gang Members

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has made a call to criminals who are involved in gangs to come forward and give evidence that can help to convict other gang members. 

Addressing a Justices of the Peace at a JP Sensitization Session organised by the Justice Ministry, the Minister drew on the recent conviction in the Tesha Miller case, noting that it was crucial evidence from one of Miller’s gang members which strengthened the case against him. 

However, the minister had a strong word of warning for those who do come forward. “We want truthful evidence; there will be an increased sentence for those who try to incriminate others falsely,” he cautioned.

He noted that Plea Bargaining was used effectively in other jurisdictions to reduce the case backlog in courts, such as in the USA, where some 95 per cent of criminal cases are resolved by Plea Bargaining.

Reducing the court case backlog has been a major initiative of the Justice Ministry, which reported a 40 percent reduction at the end of the last Financial Year. 

The Sensitisation Session was held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on Friday, December 6, and is part of ongoing capacity building the Justice Ministry organises for Justices of the Peace.

Some 5,000 JPs have benefitted from the Justice Ministry’s programme since 2017, with the next sessions planned for St Catherine, and Kingston and St Andrew on December 11 and 13, respectively.

For more information contact:

Lavern Reid
Communications Consultant
(876) 361-1625