Gov't makes another attempt to get guilty pleas

The Government is to make another attempt to get more accused persons to change their plea to guilty.

Another Sentence Reduction Day is to be held at the Gun Court in Kingston on Thursday, October 19.

This time around the initiative has been extended to cases before the St Catherine Circuit Court with a Sentence Reduction Day scheduled for Friday, October 20.

Sentence Reduction Day is among a number of initiatives implemented by the Court Management Service to ease the backlog of cases clogging the court system.

It guarantees a significant reduction in sentence for accused persons who plead guilty.

Interested persons in the Gun Court must submit an application by Monday, July 31 and the deadline for the St. Catherine Circuit Court is Friday, July 28.

The first Sentence Reduction Day has held in May for the Home Circuit and Gun courts in Kingston.

Of the nearly 700 cases before the courts at the time, only 12 persons took up the offer to change to a guilty plea for a reduced sentence.

Eleven plead guilty in Gun Court and one in the Home Circuit Court.