At last someone from the legal profession of Jamaica has had the courage and fairmindedness to speak truthfully about the way lawyers do 'business' there. I have been following this story since Magistrate Malahoo Forte spoke about what she described as their 'hustling': and have read with increased amusement the outpouring of criticism from the legal profession.

Revealing the secret

I applaud the magistrate for her forthrightness in calling attention to this dirty little secret, that has been allowed to continue unchecked within the justice arena in Jamaica. If the justice system in Jamaica, cannot look themselves squarely in the face and admit when things aren't working and seek to 'judiciously' clean up their act, ... then please do not expect the criminals to cease from doing what they normally do (crime), do not expect the police to bring law and order in the crumbling society of jamaica, do not expect the school children to aspire to be more than what they see around them (which isn't much), and most of all, please do not expect the Jamaican society on a whole to elevate themselves from the third-world status/stigma that they continue to find themselves in.

As the old saying goes ... "the fish starts to rot at the head". If so-called 'upstanding' members/professional of the society can't be honest with themselves, then don't expect for the rest of us to be honest with you ...

- Natalie Marshall

rkncmarshall@yahoo.com,

New York,

Via Go-Jamaica