KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Jamaica, with a murder rate of more than 1,000 annually, is looking to the churches here to get more Jamaicans to use restorative justice (RJ) to resolve conflicts and maintain peace within their communities.
Justice Minister, Delroy Chuck, said despite the proven effectiveness of the alternative dispute resolution strategy, more cases should be referred to Restorative Justice Centres that are located islandwide.
“We have hundreds of facilitators; millions of dollars in the Ministry of Justice waiting to pay these facilitators, but not enough cases are being referred to them. That is why the Ministry of Justice is going into the churches and schools. Into the communities to tell people about restorative justice,” Chuck said at the National Service of Thanksgiving at the start of Restorative Justice Week, being observed under the theme “Stories of Restoration… Everyone Has a Say, the RJ Way’.
Chuck said that the Ministry aims to train church members across Jamaica in practicing restorative justice as a pre-emptive move to prevent disputes among families from escalating.
“In every church, we want to put on a program where we regularly try to sensitize approximately 25 persons over two days in restorative justice practices. We want to do this in all the churches so that the congregants do not necessarily want it, but they may know of persons who need it and, therefore, can refer those persons to the RJ centers or a facilitator.”
Chuck said that restorative justice could be the “healing” tool to save Jamaica from the escalating crime rate and wrongdoings of all kinds, and as such, is urging more Jamaicans to embrace the program.
“We want more of these conflicts to be resolved, and we know they can be resolved with restorative justice. We feel that if we can take restorative justice to every nook and cranny, to every corner and crevice of Jamaica and urge people to use it to resolve their disputes, Jamaica could heal,” he added.
Restorative justice is a process whereby all the parties with a stake in an offense come together to resolve the conflict collectively and to reintegrate the offender into the community.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice seeks to move towards a paperless court system this year.
Chuck told the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) that this would form part of the Ministry’s efforts at continuing the improvement in technology.
“It is essential that we have an integrated technology system that connects the Director of Public Prosecutions, the police, courts, and other supporting services.
“Rather than the bundle of papers you see in court, everything can be dealt with electronically. That is something that, under the Social Justice Programme, the United Nations Development Programme will be working with us on. We did visit Rwanda and saw how they have a paperless system. Chuck said that there are no files in court, just laptops or computers, and that is where we want to go as quickly as possible,” Chuck said.
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