Chief Justice Zaila McCalla says she will not be caught up in any blame game over the record high number of cases on the Home Circuit Court list.

"We must all take responsibility for the situation in which we find ourselves," the chief justice said yesterday after she opened the Michaelmas session of the Home Circuit Court.

The opening was marked with a colourful ceremony in front of the courthouse on King Street, downtown Kingston.

There are 416 cases listed for trial during the term. The previous session, which ended on July 31, had 334 cases for trial.

The chief justice pointed out that it was the first time the list had reached the 400 mark. She said that, as soon as the three civil courts at the Jamaica Conference Centre were completed, space would be available for three additional criminal courts at the Home Circuit Court. The Gun Court has two courtrooms and the chief justice said there would be an additional two.

McCalla advised lawyers to move away from the practice of setting several cases for trial on the same day. She pointed out that, when the additional courtrooms were ready, that practice would not be realistic.

Wasted time

The chief justice said she was pleased to see that a microphone was installed in the dock because a lot of time was wasted when accused persons did not speak loudly and had to be called on to repeat.

Only one of the four criminal courts was fully equipped yesterday for real time court reporting. The chief justice said the aim was for the notes of evidence to be available at the end of a case. Judges will also have access to the notes of evidence during trials. The other courtrooms will be fully equipped by the end of the week.

The chief justice emphasised that real time court reporting would take a little time to get properly under way. She said some of the judges were not given any demonstration and some of the court reporters had to be trained.

Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Lisa Palmer, in reviewing the new cases, pointed out that there was a 70 per cent increase in rape cases and a 100 per cent increase in carnal abuse cases. She said she saw a 25 per cent decrease in murder cases.

Defence lawyer Lloyd McFarlane applauded the efforts being made to improve the justice system and pledged support on behalf of the private Bar to assist in reducing the backlog of cases.