CCJ issues record number of judgements in 2018

During 2018, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) issued 34 judgements and reasons for decision, its highest number of judgements delivered in a calendar year since it began its operations in 2005.
Throughout that period, the CCJ also heard 28 new matters in both its original and its appellate jurisdictions. The court’s term ends on December 17; its last hearing for the year was a case from Barbados, heard on December 5. This matter was the appeal of Renaldo Alleyne, who was convicted of manslaughter after six young women died when the Campus Trendz Mall was firebombed during a robbery in 2010. Alleyne had been sentenced to six concurrent life sentences. The hearing was broadcast live, as are all the hearings from the Court.
During this period, the judicial officers will be preparing for upcoming cases and hold case management conferences on current matters. Judicial reform work also continues during this period. The CCJ Academy for Law will be staging during this period its fifth Biennial Conference, in partnership with the General Legal Council, from December 13 to 15, 2018 in Kingston, Jamaica.
The Conference is being presented with the support of the Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST) Project, the Caribbean Development Bank, CaribExport and Scotiabank Jamaica, and will feature over 50 international and local speakers. During the Conference, the Jurist Project will be launching a Criminal Bench Book for Magistrates and Parish Court Judges. The Bench Book provides guidelines, based on best practices gleaned from courts and judicial officers throughout the Region. The Bench Book will be an excellent resource document for Judges and Magistrates and will provide a template for judiciaries to adapt for their unique situations.
Additionally, the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers, UN Women and the JURIST Project collaborated earlier this year to launch a Gender Protocol template, which the Judicial Education Institute of Trinidad and Tobago (JEITT) has developed for use by Judicial Officers in Trinidad and Tobago. The JEITT launched the Trinidad and Tobago Gender Protocol on November 27, 2018.
The CCJ is also preparing to launch its second Strategic Plan early next year. The new Plan will cover the period 2019-2023. The Plan will include updated vision and mission statements as well as new core values for the 13-year-old organisation. The Court’s units are currently preparing work plans, which will be broken down to work plans for each CCJ employee, to align with the Court’s overall strategic plan.