NewzThere are now 917 legal aid attorneys practicing in Jamaica, up from 895 in 2024. With the addition of the 22 new attorneys to the Legal Aid Programme, the Ministry of Justice was able to provide legal assistance through its Mobile Justice Unit to 137 communities last year, up from 115 in 2024. At the same time, consultations increased to 1,099 face-to-face and 911 virtual, benefiting approximately 2,010 individuals.
This compares with 959 face-to-face and 784 virtual consultations benefiting 1,743 people in 2024. The information is contained in the 2025 edition of the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica, an annual publication of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ). According to PIOJ, duty counsel services, which provide legal assistance and representation to persons in police custody at police stations and lockups, were delivered to 2,640 clients and supported the resolution of 3,617 court cases in 2025, compared with 3,371 clients and 4,875 cases in 2024.
The planning institute said monitoring of cases involving individuals with mental illness increased from 102 cases in 2024 to 128, while five justice fairs for persons with disabilities reached approximately 2,000 individuals, compared with three fairs reaching 1,000 individuals in 2024.
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