Jungle Justice
South Camp prison in Kingston photo by Christina Xu
What I am about to write, is not unrelated to my last post about police in Jamaica dispensing their own kind of justice.
In a clear admission that the court system is not working, the Prime minister says the system is under “severe stress”; he and his Justice Minister have come up with this idea of “restorative justice”. It’s a project where, as far as I can tell, ordinary people can get some kind of training and then dispense this within their communities.
I’d be interested in looking at the whole system of justice in Jamaica – or rather the lack of it. Starting off at the gun court, where witnesses are afraid to speak out and murderers go free. Then to look at how the law works through the eyes of one of the island’s lawyers. I knew someone who always had to go to the police station to get her nephew bailed out all the time, but those youths (his friends) who did not have a family member knowledgable in the law, then there was an entirely different kind of justice for them – usually ending up in GP.
Then there’s jungle justice that this new programme is trying to replace.
But why replace it?
Jungle justice is cheap, because it doesn’t involve expensive lawyers, it’s quick because no court delays hold it up, it’s a deterrent because it usually involves an execution and it’s a clear for all to see, because it happens right there on the street.
Seems rather more effective than what happens in the Gun Court.