Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

Forte

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE Marlene Malahoo Forte, president of the Resident Magistrates' Association, is concerned about the conditions of service in the justice system, as well as the increasing level of crime and violence in the society.

"Jamaica is being crippled by the high and increasing levels of crime and violence. Investigations into crimes and arrests of suspects are the beginning of a process," she tells The Sunday Gleaner. "Equal attention also needs to be paid to the prosecution/trial of cases before the court. Any sound plan to tackle the problem must also place sufficient focus on the court," Forte adds.

Other members of the association are also adamant that the deplorable conditions under which they work must improve. A large number of resident magistrates (judges) turned out at the annual general meeting of the association, which was held recently at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston. The members were in a militant mood as they discussed the conditions of service. They are anxiously awaiting the settlement of the 2005 to 2007 and the 2007 to 2009 pay contract periods.

No government houses

Discussions also focused on the deplorable conditions of many of the court offices and courthouses, security, housing and travelling allowances. Some of the RMs have to pay highway toll to and from court because there are no government houses in the parishes where they are assigned. But the toll payments, which amount to more than $10,000 monthly, are not reimbursed.

Arising from the annual general meeting, the executive members of the association, headed by Forte, met last week last Thursday with Minister of Finance Audley Shaw, Dwight Nelson, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne.

It is expected that the pay package for the RMs will be settled within the next two weeks. The association has urged the Government to move full speed ahead to deal with the recommendations for reforms as outlined in the Justice Reform Task Force, completed in 2007.

There is a proposal for the RM Courts to be renamed Parish Courts and RMs to be renamed Parish Courts, judges. One of the RMs' major areas of concern is for the removal of judges from the Civil Service to the judiciary. Under the Judicature (Resident Magistrates) Act they are judges but are merely styled as RMs for the parish. However, by some legal anomaly, they are excluded from the judiciary and the recommendation is for them to be designated the 'lower judiciary.'

Speaking to The Sunday Gleaner, RM Malahoo Forte points out that the majority of cases in the justice system are tried before the resident magistrates and the impressions about the justice system "are based largely on experiences before these courts and these judges".

54 RMs

She says there are too few judges in the system, citing the fact that there are only 54 RMs presiding in the several courts islandwide.

"We can't continue to have the same number of judges when the workload has quadrupled over the years," she states.

The vacancies are not being filled in a timely way, and that is compounded by the difficulty in finding suitable persons to fill the posts. There is also the need for improved conditions of service in the system, she added.

"We don't have relief judges when a resident magistrate goes on leave," she discloses.

According to her, from the sheer volume of work that passes through the courts, there cannot be a complement of only 86 judges to run the courts.

There will have to be legislative changes, Forte says, to increase the number of judges that is assigned. She notes although it is agreed in principle that the number of judges must be increased, the move to make legislative changes to facilitate this is not coming quickly enough.

"If the Government continues to disregard the conditions of service within the justice system they are going to lose their better judges," Forte warns.