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IIn the early 2000s, I was a young Crown prosecutor at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court, discussing with colleagues bad situation Of the criminal justice system. A colleague nearing retirement declared: “These are the good old days.” We laughed then, but over the next 20 years, we realized how right he was.
Anyone who has worked on the front lines of the criminal justice system knows that crown court crisis It took a long time to make. Years of underfunding, austerity, Covid and the changing nature of crime have complicated the issue. We are now facing a backlog of approximately 80,000 cases, resulting in some being listed for hearing till 2030.
change proposed The government is bold yet sensible and offers practical solutions.
In 2024/5, 4,283 cases were referred to the Crown Court because the defendant decided to do so. This is despite the court ruling that, depending on the prosecution’s most serious case, the sentence would not exceed the maximum powers available to magistrates.
One might wonder why a defendant would want to take his case to a higher court with greater sentencing powers. This is not just because they want them to be tried by a jury. Instead, it is often a calculated decision based on the scale of the backlog: defendants know that the longer the wait for trial, the more difficult it will be for witnesses to remember clearly what happened, making acquittal more likely. What’s worse, they hope that something will happen in a few years while the case is pending, such as the victim withdrawing from the case or, like my case, where a defendant was expecting a 96-year-old woman whose home he had burglarized. will die Before the hearing of the case.
Removing the defendant’s ability to overturn a court decision will not only save taxpayers money, but will also drastically reduce the number of cases unnecessarily clogging up the courts, allowing justice to be delivered more quickly.
Others oppose the proposed changes on principle, suggesting that it is wrong to change the fundamental basis of our criminal justice system. Clinging to tradition at the expense of justice is not right and it is certainly not fair to the victims. In any event, The system has always evolved To allow it to adapt to the challenges it faces at that time.
The Crown Court itself came into existence on 1 January 1972 and was established partly to overcome the workload difficulties faced by the old Courts of Assize and Quarter Sessions. In 1994, the commitment process was streamlined transferring cases from magistrates’ courts to the Crown courts, meaning victims no longer had to give evidence twice and a system of giving defendants remission of their sentences for early guilty pleas was introduced to deal with the growing court backlog.
There have been claims that the proposed changes eliminate the right to a jury trial, but this is not true; They simply adjust the extent of when a case requires jury participation. Magistrates in England and Wales hear cases every day and handle them with skill and careful consideration. They are fully competent to hear cases punishable with sentences up to two years; In fact, they already do so in the case of younger defendants.
And for those who argue that some cases in the Crown courts will be heard by only one judge, this is already the case in magistrates’ courts when a district judge sits alone.
Meanwhile, others suggest that more investment and efficiency is the alternative. It is true that more investment is required; I can’t count how many times I’ve walked around the bucket in the court building collecting rainwater from a leaking roof Or become frustrated with the delays in getting a defendant from jail to court. But as Sir Brian Leveson reports, “It is important to highlight that without systemic reform, big financial investment alone cannot solve this crisis”.
The Government has pledged to tackle violence against women and girls and as a result, we hope that more victims will be empowered to come forward. So be it if they have confidence In our criminal justice system. We must earn trust by ensuring that we not only deal with the immediate crisis, but that we adapt the system so that victims always get the prompt justice they deserve. The changes proposed by the government are a way for both.