Courts in Crisis - The Government’s new strategy explained

By Ciara Placentino

The UK’s court system is in crisis. Crown courts have a backlog of nearly 80,0000 cases- the caseload has doubled since 2020 and it could hit 100,000 cases by 2028. Victims are waiting an average of 271 days for their cases to be resolved; 70% longer than before the COVID-19 pandemic. In some parts of the country, cases are now being listed for 2030, and victims of serious crimes such as rape are often waiting 4 years to go to trial.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) explains this backlog as being down to trials now going on for longer, due to smartphones, digital DNA, and advances in forensics. However, the backlog has also been caused by reducing court sitting days from 2018, the COVID pandemic forcing courtrooms to close, an increase in police officer recruitment but not matching this by increasing court staff, and a four-month barrister strike in 2022. Additionally, legal aid has faced cuts, which has in turn reduced the amount of barristers doing criminal work by 12% between 2018/19 and 2022/23.

The impact of this court backlog has been detrimental to victims of serious crimes. Long wait times for trials prolong the trauma for victims and leaves their lives in limbo. As a result, victims are now giving up on justice; 60% of rape victims now pull out before trial. Long wait times for trials also result in witness dropouts or inaccuracy; witnesses may forget where they were or not want to participate in trials anymore when so much time has passed.

To combat the court backlog crisis, Sir Brian Leveson was commissioned by the government to carry out a landmark independent review last year. Upon reviewing his findings, the government plan to address the court backlog by:

• Using judge-only trials (abolishing juries) for lesser offences (anything with a likely sentence of less than 3-years). The MoJ have consulted with Canada, where judge-only trials are the norm, and they have predicted judge-only trials will be 20% faster.
• Funding more crown court sitting days.
• Giving more power to Magistrates courts to take on more lower-level offences. Previously, sentencing powers of magistrates included disqualification from driving, imposing fines, imposing compensation orders, sentencing up to 12 months for a single offence, and restraining orders.
• Abolishing power of defendants to elect for jury trials.
• Removing juries from complex fraud and financial cases that the MoJ say can keep members of the public out of work for months

The MoJ have been positive about promoting the proposed reforms. Critics, however, argue that judge-only trials may increase system bias against minority groups and say that there is a lack of evidence they will improve efficiency. This may then undermine public trust in the justice system.

The UK is also different to Canada, so judge-only trial success in Canada cannot be completely generalised.  Critics also argue the reforms fail to address root causes of the court backlog crisis, such as underfunding.

Discussions about court reforms are ongoing, but for better or worse, this will undoubtedly be a time of change for the court systems.