Crown court cases being delayed to 2023 in ongoing criminal justice “logjam”
updated on 24 November 2020
The chair of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has warned that “very vulnerable people who have to go through the system are being let down” by a criminal justice system that penalises the innocent more than the guilty, with the crisis further intensified by the coronavirus pandemic.
James Mulholland QC told the Guardian that underfunding by successive governments since 2010 have left the justice system “on its knees”. The paper reports that approximately 50,000 crown court cases are waiting to be heard, of which 33,000 will involve full trials. In 2019, the crown courts managed to complete only 12,000 trials without the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. “The system is in logjam – we are having some cases listed into 2023 for trials where people are being released on bail, sometimes for offences like rape, sexual offences, affray and significant burglaries,” said Mulholland.
On the argument that the underfunded system is now penalising victims and the innocent more than those who have committed crimes, Mulholland commented: “There’s a one in 50 chance of an old-age pensioner who is burgled seeing that person brought to justice. The police don’t have the resources. Only 1–1.5% of [reported] rapes result in charges. And even then it’s 1,319 days for the average rape case to go through the system from actual offence to completion.”
