Ministry of Justice

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Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Paula Llewellyn (centre), seems very amused at comment made by United States Ambassador, Brenda Lagrange-Johnson (right), at the fourth staging of the Jamaica Fulbright-Humphrey Alumni Association (JFHAA) Lecture Series, held at the PCJ Auditorium in Kingston on April 21. The JFHAA President, Megan Dean (left), is at left. Miss Llewellyn was the guest speaker, and presented on the topic: 'The Role of the Office of the DPP in the Administration of Justice in the 21st Century'.

Plans are underway to improve operations at the Office of the Director of Prosecutions (DPP), in order to better equip staff to effectively carry out their duties.

Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, who delivered the Jamaica Fulbright-Humphrey Alumni Association (JFHAA) lecture recently at the PCJ Auditorium in Kingston, said there are plans to increase the staff complement from 33 to 40 by this year or early next year.

"We have a staff of 31 prosecutors and 27 members of the administration. We will be seeking to increase the staff not only by seven more prosecutors but also three paralegals, which will assist us greatly," she informed.

Staff members are also set to benefit from additional training. "We will be enhancing training. We will be seeking to enhance managerial best practices; seeking to dialogue with interest groups; enhance training strategies for all levels of staff including management training modules for senior staff; professional and technical training for staff both legal and non-legal; also customer service training for administrative and other members of staff," the DPP informed.

In addition, she said, the services of 10 former prosecutors have also been employed, who will form a pool "that we will be able to draw on from time to time because the Chief Justice (Zaila McCalla) in her wisdom, is continuing several of the Circuits, which means that it puts more stress on our resources."

She also mentioned that the physical and technical infrastructure of the Office will be enhanced and a Beautification Committee is in place.

According to the DPP, the office is faced with numerous challenges, including being understaffed, and there is a backlog in terms of cases, and the disposal of rulings. "We have an inadequate case management system, which we are trying to perfect and we will be getting some help from some Canadian jurists. We have inadequate computerization.more could be done," Ms. Llewellyn said.

She noted further that, "we have a greater need to protect witnesses so we have to interface more with the Witness Protection Programme. We have to deal with reluctant witnesses who do not wish to give evidence in court. You also have on occasion, improper gathering and preparing of the case from law enforcement."

The DPP said that the mandate of the Office is to be "visible, more open and accountable for our decisions, being responsive to the needs of the community, being seen as decisive decision makers, who will decide a case which is brought to court in a timely manner."

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