‘Too many lay magistrates lack humility’ – Chuck

WESTERN BUREAU:

Justice minister Delroy Chuck has rapped some members of the island’s lay magistrates for what he described as a lack of humility among them, and an unwillingness to recognise their core role as justices of the peace, to work alongside parish custodes.

“One of the first things that you should do if you are going to be serving in the court (as a lay magistrate) is to be humble. What I find with far too many of the lay magistrates is that they lack humility, and to be frank with you, they feel that they are a special group of JPs, and they are above the fray, and therefore they must be able to run things,” Chuck said.

“In the JP association there can be a chapter of the lay magistrates, and that chapter can work with the LMAJ, their national body, and I have no difficulty. But when they meet as a chapter they must work with the custos, you are not going to be a chapter of the Lay Magistrates Association in a parish and feel that you are separate from the JP association. You are not,” Chuck stated to loud applause.

A lay magistrate is a justice of the peace (JP) who has been trained in criminal law and procedure, and who acts as a judge in a court of law that deals with crimes that are less serious.

The justice minister explained that not every JP is a lay magistrate, but one has to be a JP before one can be appointed as a Lay Magistrate.

“So if you are not working with the JP association and with the custos, don’t bother, so you can’t be so powerful and arrogant that you feel that you must run your own thing, and the custos and the JP association must have no sort of interaction with you,” he stated emphatically.

Chuck made the comments while addressing a meeting of JPs in Hanover at the Orchard Sports and Community Centre in Hopewell on Saturday.

He noted that JP associations are now active in all parishes, and called for all lay magistrates to recognise that fact, and be prepared to work with them and their respective custodes.

The justice minister’s statement, which has been repeated for several months now in the other parishes across the island, came against the background of claims by some persons in the Hanover Lay Magistrates Association chapter that they do not report to the custos, Dr David Stair, and that they are not a part of the JP association.

The situation in Hanover reached a boiling point recently, when it was discovered that there were members of the Lay Magistrates’ parish chapter who had collected the seals of JPs who had died, but refused to hand over those seals to the custos.

The custos in each parish is the only person mandated to collect the seals of any JP who has died, or who has become incapable of carrying on duties as a JP.

The minister has faced criticism from members of the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica (LMAJ) of trying to dismantle the organisation.

But Chuck says he is resolute in the matter.

He noted that he has met with the LMAJ on numerous occasions in the past to explain his stance and the way forward.

“I have met with them, their executive body, I have met with them virtually during the last two years of the pandemic, to say ‘listen, I have nothing against the lay magistrates, I would like the association as a body to continue, but you must see yourselves as a JP and not separate from being a JP’. In other words, you are a sub-group of the JP association,” he argued.

He asked for the message to be circulated across the parishes and organisations that there is a need for all JPs to work together.

“Don’t feel that you must dictate to the custos and dictate to other JPs, you are one just like every other JP,” Chuck stated.

bryan.miller@gleanerjm.com