Building a Better Jamaica

Thursday, May 28, 2009
Jamaica Observer

JUSTICE Minister Dorothy Lightbourne yesterday launched a pilot of the Government's much-touted Restorative and Community Justice programme which will be rolled out in four of the island's violent-prone communities.

The areas identified are Spanish Town in St Catherine; May Pen, Clarendon; Tower Hill in St Andrew; and Granville, St James.

"I wish at this time to highlight that we are going to have four pilot projects and [they] are going to be concentrated in four hurting communities," Lightbourne announced during yesterday's launch of the Justice Ministry's third International Conference on Restorative and Community Justice at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston. The conference ends today.

The programme, which over time is expected to result in less cases of non-fatal offences going to the island's courts, is expected to be launched islandwide within the next four years. Approximately 345,000 cases were last year listed before the resident magistrate's courts, the majority of which were criminal in nature.

Teachers, religious and business leaders, justices of the peace and community leaders will be trained at the Justice Training Institute in the administration of the programme. Some 150 persons, who are to participate in the pilot programme, started training yesterday.

The programme is also expected to help in the reduction of 'jungle justice' and reprisal attacks throughout communities.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in delivering the keynote address at yesterday's launch, said that the restorative justice programme would not replace the current justice system but enhance and provide an option for the delivery of justice. "That is what restorative justice is all about," Golding said.

He added that the nation's justice system was under "severe stress" and he bemoaned the state's limited resources in creating a more effective justice system.

Restorative justice stands in contrast to the system of justice which focuses on penalising offenders. It facilitates a more participatory approach to the delivery of justice, catering to the needs of the victims and perpetrators of crime and the affected community, to foster healing and reconciliation of all parties.