06/07/2020
Police Oracle
Work with Offenders looks at the Ministry of Justice's newly announced “renewal for justice”
Last week, the Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland outlined a 'renewal for justice' as courts harness increased investment, improved technology and a range of emergency measures to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
It comes as Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) publishes a recovery plan that charts the progress made during the emergency and sets out the road to recovery.
In March, almost half (124 out of 281) of all courts were closed and jury trials were paused to minimise social interaction between court users. Since then, court staff, legal professionals, and the judiciary have collaborated to prioritise cases and keep the justice system running throughout the lockdown.
Up to 90% of hearings in this period involved remote access. Video technology has been bolstered across all courts, and – using public health advice – measures have been put in place to safely resume jury trials in 26 courts since June.
This has meant that, throughout the lockdown, domestic abuse victims could obtain protection orders, children could be safeguarded, and dangerous suspects have not been released from jail as their remand expired.
Inevitably, the already substantial backlog of cases has worsened during the course of lockdown with a queue of more than 40,000 trials at the Crown Court as we reported last week.
As with the prison building programme announced over the weekend, the announcement is framed in the context of new investment kickstarting our post-pandemic economy.
The MoJ has set aside £142 million to improve more than 100 courts across the country and give 750 more court rooms remote capability. This will more than double the current maintenance budget resulting in what the department claims will be the “biggest single investment in the courts and tribunals estate in over a decade”.
Mr Buckland also announced that he has identified 10 additional sites for so-called Nightingale courts to allow for better social distancing; and that the MoJ is looking at whether courts will need to stay open for longer to increase the number of cases that can be heard safely on any given day.
Other work going on to get the courts back up to speed again includes installing screens and making other physical modifications in existing courts and exploring using other buildings as settings for courts and tribunal hearings from August.
There is also investment to improve technology with greater use of the Cloud Video Platform including an important new functionality of recording hearings.
There is not yet a final decision on jury trials, but it seems clear that the government has rejected calls to do away with the principle of judgement by one’s peers in some cases but is considering reducing the number of jury members from 12 to 9. This will enable more court rooms to hold trials with jury members being able to maintain social distancing.
The court system was in the middle of an expensive (and considerably delayed) modernisation initiative with some minor cases starting to be administered online. As in so many other areas of life, coronavirus has accelerated this process.
The Lord Chancellor concluded his announcement with the sort of up-beat message which characterises so many of the Prime Minister’s speeches with a focus on coronavirus as opportunity:
“It is possible to make this recovery a renewal for justice in our country. Getting it right could mean a system that not only emerges intact from this crisis, but is fundamentally more efficient, more dynamic and more resilient – a smarter system for a different future, which is good news for all who use our courts.”