Minister of State for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez yesterday tabled proposed amendments to the Juries Act, which aim to "improve the efficiency of criminal trials".
The changes would "provide effective mechanisms which would allow the courts to dispose of matters in a radically swifter and more organized manner".
The bill would expand the jury pool to include family island residents who would be provided with accommodations and a stipend during their service.
The bill would place an age limit of 70 on people eligible to sit on a jury.
It would also place additional duties on the parliamentary commissioner in the preparation of jury lists to "ensure a smooth and efficient process".
Additionally, the bill would shorten the maximum period of jury service from three months to two months.
However, if a juror is serving on a case that has not been completed at the end of two months, he or she would continue to serve until the case is completed.
The bill would also increase the categories that would disqualify a person from serving on a jury to include additional disabilities such as being blind or deaf.
Last week, during a nationally-televised press conference, Prime Minister Perry Christie said the amendments are part of the government's attempt to reduce the criminal court backlog and speed up the judicial process.
"The Juries Act is being shaped and fashioned now for first reading in Parliament, where we are amending the Juries Act again to make the system of justice able to conform more to the requirements and the challenges that we now face," Christie said.
In January, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said the court calendar was already in 2016 and there were more than 1,000 backlogged cases, including serious offenses committed last year.
"These statistics show that notwithstanding the efforts of various administrations over decades, the system is fundamentally broken," Maynard-Gibson said.
"Bold steps must be taken to restore confidence in the system. All hands must be on deck. There are no magic wands."
As part of its reform of the judicial system, the government said it plans to have 10 criminal courts operating simultaneously this year.

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