PRIVY COUNCIL:

ARGUMENTS FOR & AGAINST THE

• The Judicial Committee of The Privy Council (JCPC) is the court of final appeal for the UK
overseas territories and Crown dependencies, and for those Commonwealth countries that have
retained the appeal to Her Majesty in Council or, in the case of Republics, to the Judicial
Committee.
 CARIBBEAN COURT OF JUSTICE
The Caribbean Court of Justice has two jurisdictions: an original jurisdiction and an appellate jurisdiction:

• In its original jurisdiction, the CCJ interprets and applies the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (which established
the Caribbean Community), and is an international court with compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction in respect of
the interpretation of the treaty.
• In its appellate jurisdiction, the CCJ hears appeals as the court of last resort in both civil and criminal matters
from those member states which have ceased to allow appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
(JCPC). As of March 2015, Barbados, Belize, Dominica[2][3] and Guyana have replaced the JCPC's appellate
jurisdiction with that of the CCJ.
 FOR THE PRIVY COUNCIL
• The Courts in the Caribbean are unwilling to “offend” by striking down the conduct of those who hold high
offices and wield political power. Hence, there is a fair trial as the case is tried in London by the privy
council.
• In previous years, justice was not served by decisions of the local and regional judges, and the only way they
could have their right vindicated was by going to the privy council.
• Cost: While the alternatives may be less costly to litigants to access, they will cost more to the Jamaica
Government, which has to contribute to the operations of the CCJ, and a local Final Court of Appeal would
have to be solely financed by the State, while the Privy Council offers its cadre of judges and facilities free of
cost to its former colonies.
AGAINST THE PRIVY COUNCIL
• The abolition of appeals to the PC and the replacement of that body by the CCJ will complete the cycle of
independence of the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean. The point is made with great force that having
attained independence between 30 to 52 years in the case of most Commonwealth Caribbean countries, the time
has now long past when we should have shed ourselves of our colonial past and the reliance upon Judges based in
London to decide matters coming before our Courts.
• The replacement of the PC by the CCJ as the final Appellate Court will provide citizens of the Commonwealth
Caribbean countries with much greater access to justice. This means that they will be able to take their matters to
the final Court of Appeal if they so wish at a much reduced cost.
• Access to our courts — at whatever level — is one of the fundamental rights to which our people are entitled.
Access to the CCJ will allow our citizens to enjoy and exercise far more rights than they currently enjoy with the
Judicial Committee as their final court of appeal.
 JUVENILE COURT

• Moore and Wilkinson define a juvenile court as a ‘ court of summary jurisdiction constituted for
the purpose for hearing any charge against a child or a young person or for the purpose of
exercising of any jurisdiction conferred on any juvenile courts’.
• It further urges States Parties to “seek to promote the establishment of laws, procedures,
authorities and institutions specifically applicable to children alleged as, accused of, or recognized
as having infringed the penal law.
 FUNCTIONS OF THE JUVENILE COURT
• The underlying philosophy of such courts is that persons who qualify as juveniles should not be seen as criminals,
but as young persons to be guided and helped.
• The juvenile court is not only concerned with protecting the deviant child or offender, but also the abandoned
child on streets and the child who is simply “ in need of care”. This jurisdiction is sometimes as jurisdiction for
‘status offences’ if committed by adults , although vagrancy is still an offence in many jurisdictions.
• The establishment of juvenile courts in the commonwealth Caribbean sought to impose such reform in the law
which would bring about an improvement in the welfare of juveniles within the court system.
• To provide individualized assessments to rehabilitate and prevent further delinquent behavior through the
development of educational, vocational, social, emotional and basic life skills which enable youth to grow and
mature.
• To provide youth and all other interested parties fair hearings at which legal rights are recognized and enforced.
CONSTITUTION AND PROCEDURES OF THE
JUVENILE COURTS SYSTEM
Juvenile courts in the commonwealth Caribbean are headed by a magistrate or, in the case of Jamaica, a
resident magistrate as chairperson and two justice of the peace which is usually a woman.

Other aspects of the courts jurisdiction takes cognizance of the juvenile’s social circumstances.

Juvenile courts are deemed to have all the powers of the magistrates court. The rationale behind the latter
provisions is in order to emphasize the difference between juvenile court and the ordinary courts of law. It
also highlights the law’s concern in protecting, rather than punishing juveniles.
 STATUS OFFENCES

• Status offences are acts, which are deemed offences when committed by juveniles, but are not
considered such when perpetrated by adults. Included in the list of status offences are acts such as
truancy, wandering, consumption of alcohol, immoral conduct and refusal to obey parents and
guardians.
 AGE OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
• A prerequisite for a child being subjected to the penal provisions of the juvenile justice system is
that such child must be of the age of criminal responsibility.
• A child under the age of criminal responsibility is conclusively presumed innocent and may not be
charged with a crime under any circumstances. Such a child is deemed doli incapax.
• There is a further presumption of innocence in a child who has attained the age of criminal
responsibility but is under 14; this presumption, however, is not conclusive and may be rebutted
by affirmative evidence that when the child did the action complained of the child knew that
he/she was doing something gravely wrong.
AGE OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
• There is no uniformity in the age of criminal responsibility in the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago,
Grenada are still mired in the English common law age of 7, from which England herself stepped away
in 1933.
• Turks and Caicos Islands, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts
and Nevis and Anguilla have all adopted the later English position of 8 years, which England herself
further departed from in 1963.
• In Belize, the age of criminal responsibility was increased last year to age 9, while in Guyana,
Montserrat Suriname, and the Virgin Islands it is age 10, and Barbados, age 11. Dominica, in setting
the age of criminal responsibility at age 12, leads the way forward in the Caribbean, together with
Jamaica.