Minister of State for Legal Affairs Damien Gomez said he believes the Jury Amendment Bill 2015 tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday will modernize the country’s justice system by implementing an electronic jury selection process.

“In our Commonwealth, Mr. Speaker, the right to trial by jury is a constitutional right. It is an entitlement and it is viewed as a barometer of the strength and integrity of our constitutional democracy,” Mr. Gomez said.

The new innovation, according to Mr. Gomez, is an attempt to improve inefficiencies in the trial by jury process and is expected to “fine tune” the country’s administration of justice.

He explained that, “it is critical to the efficiency of our swift justice initiative that we improve the jury selection process in our country.”

“The implementation of an electronic database does provide us with a platform for a more fair and transparent selection process. It provides the basis for future reforms, which will have the effect of allowing us to produce electronic public notices, and electronic delivery of those notices,” he said.

Mr. Gomez, who also expressed the importance of the jury in the administration of justice, said the integration of technology into the country’s judicial system will ultimately enhance swift justice.

“The amendment seeks to improve the delivery of service, to remove duplication from the selection process, to remove the potential for human error in the selection process, to gather data or juror selection, to increase the speed in which matters can go to trial, and provide an electronically managed register,” Mr. Gomez said.

He said that although technology does not resolve all of the issues, it will “implement improved processing speed” and will “result in a more sufficient jury system.”