Grave concerns for the criminal justice system in the covid-19 era and beyond
updated on 05 March 2021
Four criminal justice watchdogs have voiced their “grave concerns” about delays in the criminal justice system caused by covid-19.
At a time when the chair of the Criminal Bar Association in England and Wales has described the system as “on its knees”, the inspectorates for policing, prisons, probation and prosecutions have expressed similar concern.
At the start of 2021, the number of unheard cases had reached 54,000 with an estimated backlog of four years as some cases were scheduled for 2023. In the case of jury trials, hearings were forced to stop altogether at the start of lockdown as people were advised to stay home. This has meant that victims have had to wait extensive periods between stages in their journey to justice.
In response, the government has so far committed investments of more than £255 million to the courts system to bolster court proceedings. Actions have been taken to improve technology to facilitate virtual hearings and, as a result, more than 20,000 hearings using remote technology are now taking place each week. Although the overall impact of such numbers remains to be seen, the public largely support the implementation of these virtual hearings. The government has also pledged to have 60 ‘Nightingale’ courts operational by the end of March, and is adapting traditional courts to make them compatible with the requirements for a covid-safe trial, adding plexiglass screens and sanitisation stations.
Some will say this investment comes too late to a system already out of date. With a lack of funding (capital spending by the Ministry of Justice has been lower than its 2010/11 level every year since) impacting the criminal justice system for years, covid-19 has exacerbated rather than caused the issues faced by the courts.
The hope must then be that the innovations forced by the pandemic will make for permanent improvements to the justice system. As Nick Titchener, director and defence solicitor at Lawtons Law notes these advancements, “although intended primarily as a safety measure during the pandemic, (open) up the possibility of bringing new efficiency to the system in future.”
