The Justice Training Institute (JTI), the training arm of the Ministry of Justice. The overarching mandate is to provide training and staff development activities of the highest quality to meet the needs and build the capacity of Jamaica’s Justice Sector’s staff members in accordance with international standards. The focus of the Institute is thus on the staff of the Ministry of Justice, its agencies and courts but the service provided is extended to other public sector and non-government agencies as well.
Main Functions
The functions of the Institute are to design, develop, organize, coordinate and conduct training programmes in Justice Administration for legal and non-legal personnel employed in the following agencies in consultation with the appropriate department:
- Supreme Court
- Court of Appeal
- Revenue Court
- Gun Court
- Resident Magistrates’ Courts
- Family Courts
- Administrator General’s Department
- Ministry of Justice
- Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions
- Office of the Attorney General
- Office of the Parliamentary Council
- Department of Legal Reform, and by request
- Other Public and Private Sector Agencies
The Institute in consultation with, and at the request of, the Chief Justice is also mandated to organize and coordinate seminars, workshops and training programmes for Judges of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Resident Magistrate’s Court, and Justices of the Peace. Other stated functions include undertaking or giving directions for the conducting of court-related research and research in areas relevant to Justice Administration; publishing and making available for dissemination; bulletins, booklets, guides, broadsheets, textbooks and publications of like nature whether in print, electronic or other devise or other related tasks in the nature of training in Justice Administration and Judicial Training as the need arise.
In short, the broad mandate of the JTI is to train, equip and certify employees in the Justice System with the requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes to enable them to discharge their functions in a satisfactory manner.