News
JAM | Feb 17, 2025

Chuck calls on JPs to mentor young Jamaicans

/ Our Today

administrator
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck addresses a Justices of the Peace sensitisation session, held at the Royalton in Negril, Westmoreland, on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. (Photo: JIS)

Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck has called on Justices of the Peace (JPs) to take a more active role in mentoring young people and encouraging them to pursue legitimate employment and skills development.

Addressing a JP sensitisation session at the Royalton in Negril, Westmoreland, on February 12, the minister pointed out that many young people have openly dismissed traditional jobs, believing they cannot earn enough through legal employment.

He said this mindset has led them into criminal circles where they become deeply entangled, and that ultimately results in violent and fatal confrontations.

The minister pointed out that despite significant developments in western Jamaica, the region continues to be plagued by illegal activities, particularly lottery scamming.

“Scamming, for one reason or another, seems to be a major difficulty in the western part of Jamaica, and out of the scamming nothing more than violence has occurred as they (perpetrators) fight over scarce resources,” said Chuck.

The minister emphasised that there is an urgent need for greater community intervention to curb the rise of this criminal enterprise among other unlawful operations.

“We have to talk to our young people. I agree that J$15,000 (minimum wage) might not be a livable wage, but it is something [or a start]. So, at least start out and, hopefully, things will improve,” Chuck said.

“Do something positive [for them] Justices of the Peace. We need your help,” the minister told the JPs.

Justices of the Peace in Westmoreland participate in a JP sensitisation session, held at the Royalton in Negril, Westmoreland, on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. (Photo: JIS)

The sensitisation session featured presentations from key agencies of government, including the Administrator General’s Department (AGD), Office of the Public Defender (OPD), National Identification & Registration Authority (NIRA), Registrar General’s Department (RGD), and the National Land Agency (NLA).

The event also included the election of new officers for the Westmoreland Justices of the Peace Association to further strengthen the organisational framework for JPs in the parish.

Comments

What To Read Next

News JAM Jul 8, 2025

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Dana Morris Dixon is describing attacks by the parliamentary opposition on the Government’s Rural School Bus System, for which phase 1 will be rolled out starting September 2025, as baseless, unfortunate and unhelpful, particularly given the importance of the initiative to thousands of children and families across rural Jamaica.

Minister Dixon says she is particularly disappointed by remarks from Opposition Leader Mark Golding who used a political platform to disparage the buses as “old” and proposed that school children be transported by “di likkle man who have dem pro-box and AR wagon”.

News JAM Jul 8, 2025

Reading Time: 2 minutesPrime Minister Andrew Holness has urged Jamaicans to remain faithful as the government continues to work to ensure that all residents have access to an adequate water supply.

“For the communities that are without water now, your voice is heard. I personally care about it. And the government that I administer on your behalf, we are working hard to correct and improve. And you can take hope and have faith because others who were in your position now have water,” he said.

News JAM Jul 8, 2025

Reading Time: 3 minutesPrime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has called on CARICOM leaders to continue championing regional unity as the Caribbean faces growing social, economic, and geopolitical challenges.

Reflecting on her first address to the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in 2018, Mottley noted that the region is now confronting perhaps its most difficult period since achieving independence.