Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

THE SHORTAGE of judges is one of the causes of the huge backlog of cases in the courts, which is a major area of concern in the recommendations of the Justice Reform Task Force Report.

The shortage of judges affects the Resident Magistrate's courts, Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. There are 25 Supreme Court judges and one master in chambers.

More complex cases

Chief Justice Zaila McCalla says the number of judges is limited so when a judge is ill, it affects the system adversely. She adds that it must be borne in mind that litigation has increased significantly and cases are now more complex.

Requests have been made over the last several years for an increase in the number of judges, but the increase granted has been insufficient and there has been no increase in the number of masters in chambers.

McCalla emphasises that although there are legal vacations every year, Supreme Court judges are never on legal vacation. There is a legal vacation during the end of each term. The year has three Circuit-Court sessions and nine weeks during the year are given as legal vacation - five days during Easter, six weeks during summer, and approximately two weeks at Christmas.

During the legal vacation, judges have to take turns sitting in the Gun courts, which have a huge backlog of cases. It is the practice that during the legal vacation, there is an increase in the number of Gun-Court sittings to reduce the backlog of cases.

"Legal vacations are used by judges to write judgments, complete part-heard cases, hear urgent matters, deal with applications for injunctions and preside in all the Gun courts in the Corporate Area and in the rural parishes," McCalla tells The Sunday Gleaner.

'Brain challenging'

She describes sitting on the bench as "brain challenging", adding that although judges need a breather during the legal vacations, they have to work.

"We do not have sufficient judges to extend Circuit courts indefinitely, and we do not have the provisions in Resident Magistrate's Court buildings where rural Circuit courts are held, to accommodate continuous sittings of the Circuit courts," states McCalla.

When Circuit Court is in session in the parishes outside of the Corporate Area, the work of the resident magistrate is disrupted because of lack of space at courthouses. The resident magistrate has to give up his or her chambers and courtroom for Circuit-Court cases.

Extension of circuit courts

McCalla says there has to be a concerted effort to extend the buildings to facilitate the Circuit Court, additional judges and support staff, including prosecutors and court reporters, so that the Circuit Court and the Resident Magistrate's courts can operate at the same time. She discloses that on numerous occasions, Circuit courts have been extended, and in the parishes of St Catherine and Clarendon, the Circuit courts sit continuously.

The sharp increase in the crime rate has led to the extension of Circuit courts. In 2007, Circuit courts in St James, Westmoreland, Manchester and Trelawny were extended, the chief justice reports. In addition, the Circuit courts in St Ann and St Elizabeth were extended this year.

The chief justice and Senior Puisne Judge Marva McIntosh were unanimous last week on the point that a major problem in the justice system stems from lack of funding and staff.

The copious note-taking of evidence by hand, particularly in civil cases, by judges has resulted in some of the judges having problems with their hands which, on occasion, has necessitated surgery. But the chief justice says real-time reporting should be coming on stream soon and will alleviate the burden of taking notes of evidence by hand in criminal cases and will expedite the availability of transcripts of notes of evidence.

But there is not only the problem of a shortage of judges, there is also a shortage of jurors, who are essentially "the judges of the facts" in criminal cases in the Circuit courts. "Some persons are reluctant to come forward to serve as jurors, but there are plans to reform the jury system," McCalla adds.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com