Highlights of the Legal Aid Council for Fiscal Year 2006 - 2007

Highlights of the Legal Aid Council for Fiscal Year 2005 - 2006

Highlights of the Legal Aid Council for Fiscal year 2004 - 2005

The Legal Aid Council

Brief Overview

The Legal Aid Council is the body established by the Legal Aid Act, to administer and supervise legal aid across the island of Jamaica. The Council is administered by a Board comprising of a chairman and not less than thirteen (13) or more than fifteen (15) members.

The members of the Board include the Chief Justice, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Solicitor General, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, or a nominee of each of them. Also included on the Board is a representative of the Jamaican Bar Association, the Advocate Association of Jamaica, the Council of Legal Education, the General Legal Council of the Bar, a member of the Jamaica Council of Human Rights, a member of the Jamaica Defence Force and the Council of Churches; each of these selected by the Minister from a panel of three (3), nominated by these bodies.

The day to day operations of the Council are supervised by the Executive Director and Staff. The Legal Aid Act was passed in 1997 and came into operation on May 1, 2000.

Legal Aid Programmes

Two programmes are currently operated:

1. Duty Counsel at Police Stations; and
2. Legal representation in the Criminal Courts throughout the island.

Regulations and forms have been promulgated and procedures to be followed set out; these have been refined by years of operations.

1. Duty Counsel

Under this scheme, the Council provides the service of a Counsel to persons who are being held at a police station, lock up, correctional institution or any other place where he/she is being held or detained before a court appearance; Counsel gives legal advice to that person who is detained or accused of an offence; attend an identification parade, if one is being held; be present at the taking of a Cautioned Statement, if one is to be taken or at a questioning by the police, whether the questioning will be recorded by the police or not; to make representation for bail at the lockup; and to represent the citizen as Counsel on his first appearance in Court.

2. Legal Aid in the Courts: Resident Magistrate’s Court, Circuit Courts, Gun Courts and the Appeal Court.

When an application is made and granted by the appropriate authority, the Council provides Counsel to conduct the defence on behalf of the accused. The fees paid for these services vary depending on the seniority of the Counsel, the offence and the Court before which the accused is tried.

The Council maintains a panel of attorneys, who have indicated their willingness to offer their services to persons who are in need of legal aid. These attorneys are drawn from across the length and breathe of Jamaica and operate in the Courts across Jamaica. There are at present over Two Hundred and Seventy-five (275) attorneys on the Council’s panel and they include established senior attorneys, as well as junior attorneys.

From time to time the Council conducts seminars to inform people of its functions and their rights under the Legal Aid Act. The Council also supervises the two existing clinics, which are the Kingston Legal Aid Clinic, located at 131 Tower Street, Kingston and the Montego Bay Legal Aid Clinic at 17 Orange Street, Montego Bay, St. James. Both these clinics are under the supervision of a director and his staff.

Although the Legal Aid Act makes provision for legal aid in Civil matters, at present legal aid is granted only in Criminal matters. A person who appears before a Magistrate or a Judge, charged with a Criminal offence, and whose means show that he/she cannot afford the services of a private attorney will be granted legal aid, provided he/she is not charged for one of the excepted offences.

The Excepted Offence of the Act

The excepted offences are:

Certain offences under the Money Laundering Act; and

1. Certain offences under the Dangerous Drugs Act, when the amount of the substance for which the person is charged, exceeds eight (8) ounces.

[more]

Legal Aid payments