Court system on ‘brink of collapse’, former senior judge warns
4 hours agoDominic CascianiHome and Legal Correspondent
AFP via Getty ImagesThe court system is “on the brink of collapse” as the backlogs for trials reach unprecedented levels, the head of a major review has said.
Sir Brian Leveson, a senior retired judge, warned ministers, the police and others that there could not be a “pick and mix” response to solving the crisis.
Last year, in the first stage of the review, Sir Brian called for the right to a jury trial to be scaled back and many intermediate crimes to be dealt with by a judge alone.
His second and final report has recommended 130 efficiency changes, from technical measures to allowing prison vans to use bus lanes to hit court appearance deadlines.
Sir Brian’s two reports were commissioned by ministers as part of an attempt to reverse the backlogs that had reached record levels before Labour came into power, but have continued to worsen since then.
Last September, the backlog of trials waiting to come to Crown Court in England and Wales was 79,619 cases, double the level seen before the pandemic.
It is on track to hit 100,000 cases by November next year and some suspects being charged with offences today are already being told their cases won’t be dealt with until 2030.
That in turn has led to victims saying they are losing confidence in the system and walking away from the court process.
The crisis has deep roots in cuts to spending on courts, judges and barristers. The impact of those decisions in the 2010s has been exacerbated by the pandemic, lawyers quitting criminal work over poor pay while the recruitment of extra police has led to more suspects being sent to court.
Sir Brian said that his reports must not lead to a “pick and mix job” but all agencies must act quickly.
“I have never seen pressure on the courts at such an unacceptable level – the system stands on the brink of collapse,” he said.
“It is failing victims. It is failing witnesses, and on top of that, it’s not even good for defendants who wish to challenge the allegations made against them, but whose lives are equally on hold waiting for the court date to appear.
“The one thing we do not have is the luxury of great time.”
Sir Brian’s recommendations include appointing a dedicated criminal justice adviser working directly to the prime minister in the heart of government to oversee efficiency reforms to the courts, prisons, prosecutors and police.
His 130 other recommendations include:
- Increasing the use of video remote hearings in courts
- Allowing prison vans to use bus lanes to get defendants to courts on time – delays in delivering suspects from prisons is a huge daily problem
- Cut the work police need to do to prepare a file for prosecutors at the start of a case
- More use of artificial intelligence tools to prepare cases and schedule them
- Making better use of empty courtrooms – another daily problem
Sir Brian said ministers, the police, prosecutors and others could pick out some of his recommendations to act on immediately but stressed the entire system needed fixing.
The Criminal Bar Association, representing barristers who work in crown and magistrates courts, reiterated its opposition to cuts to jury trials, saying there is no evidence that the proposed major constitutional reform would solve the crisis.
Its leaders said local solutions in regional crown courts had shown that backlogs could be reduced and the government needed to learn lessons and fund more such programmes.
“[Sir Brian] has produced a full a MOT test report on the criminal justice system,” said Riel Karmy-Jones KC and Andrew Thomas KC.
“His report is an 800 page list of failures and requirements for immediate action. Just like maintaining a car, you can’t just fix one component and ignore the rest.
“If the MoJ and the Treasury do not act on this, the criminal justice system is going to end up on the scrapheap.”
Responding to the report, Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor David Lammy said the government would respond to the recommendations in the coming weeks.
“Efficiencies alone are not a silver bullet, but making the system more efficient and saving time across the board is a vital part of a wider package to tackle the problem of victims suffering for years for their cases to be heard,” he said.
“We inherited a creaking justice system struggling with the burden of modern crime and using digital technology in order to make courts more efficient will be a central pillar of our approach to modernisation.”