Criminal courtrooms to get computers

Thursday, September 04, 2008

JUDGES presiding over criminal cases in the Supreme Court will, as of September 16, no longer have to go through the laborious task of taking trial notes by hand.

Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne said yesterday that computers are to be installed in all the criminal courtrooms, allowing judges to view and save to their computers the notes being taken by stenographers.

"I had asked for three courtrooms [to be equipped with computers] but our technical people say that they may be able to put it in all the courtrooms," said Lightbourne.
She was addressing yesterday's opening of a three-day regional conference on 'The Media and the Caribbean Justice System', at the Hilton Kingston Hotel.

A number of Jamaican judges have over the years complained about still having to take notes by hand, a function that has been phased out in most jurisdictions across the globe.

Yesterday, Lightbourne said that the implementation of the computerised system, which was recommended by the Justice Reform Task Force, will also result in speedy trials and appeals, where necessary, and help to clear the backlog of criminal cases.

Said Lightbourne: "You know that at the moment, judges take notes by hand and it slows up trials. So [with the new system] the trial will proceed speedily. Not only that, but at the end of the day, the transcript of evidence will be available to defence counsel and will also speed up the disposal of appeal cases because appeals cannot be heard until the transcripts are prepared."

The minister was, however, unable to say when the system would be rolled out in the civil courts at the Supreme Court or Resident Magistrate's Courts across the island.

The deadline for the implementation of the reform task force recommendations is 2017.