Jury Act to undergo parliamentary review

 

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck on Tuesday announced that the House of Representatives will be asked to review the Jury Act to determine whether the country should move away from jury trials.

 

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes has been arguing that Jamaica should seriously consider moving away from jury trials in order to speed up the hearing of murder cases languishing in the courts. But the Jamaican Bar Association has strongly opposed the proposal to abolish jury trials. 

 

Speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck said a Joint Select Committee of Parliament will be asked to review the Jury Act. 

 

He said stakeholders will be asked to make submissions on whether Jamaica should abolish jury trials and have cases tried by a single judge going forward.

 

"The matter of jury trials versus bench trials has been in the public domain for quite some time, with Chief Justice, the Honourable Bryan Sykes, publicly declaring and encouraging defence lawyers to make greater use of the latter, as one solution towards reducing the case backlog in the criminal courts. Mr. Speaker, recognising that jury trials have been a hallmark of our justice system, this is a matter that Parliament should decide on, taking into account the suggestions and recommendations from all stakeholders within the justice system and the wider public. Following that process, the House will be in a better position to make a final and well-informed decision," he suggested.

 

He also announced that legislation will be tabled in Parliament to give judges the power to dismiss jurors and continue a trial in their absence if there is evidence of jury tampering. 

 

"In an instance where there's evidence of jury tampering or a real and present danger that jury tampering would take place, and the interest of justice demands it, a judge may discharge a jury and order that the trial be conducted without a jury. 

 

"The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the JCPC, in a much publicised case in evaluating our legal landscape, indicated that this is a power that is absent in our jurisdiction but present in England and Wales. The absence of this power places judges in a precarious position. This had to be remedied. We undertook a comprehensive review of other jurisdictions to determine how the court should proceed should evidence of jury tampering arise," said the Justice Minister. 

 

Additionally, the Mr. Chuck said the government has agreed to increase the stipend for persons called to perform jury duty. 

 

For a number of years, persons called to sit in jury pools have been complaining about the money paid for jury duty. 

 

Minister Chuck announced the new increases during Tuesday's sitting of the House of Representatives.

 

"Following considerable deliberations, the bill before the House proposes to increase the stipend paid to jurors from $2,000 to $6,000 for each day or any part of a day that they serve on a jury. This represents, Mr. Speaker, a 200% increase in the stipend. We felt it necessary to go even further than this, to take into consideration persons who are called to jury duty but who are not selected. With the proposal in the bill, these individuals will now be paid $2,000 for each day that they appear before the court to participate in the jury selection process," he disclosed.