Crown courts are on “braking point” and by 2028 there will be 100,000 outstanding criminal cases, a minister has warned, as a backlog A new record reaches high,
The official figures published on Thursday were shows 76,957 open cases It is heard at the end of March, 11 percent in the last year. One quarter of them – some 18,093 cases – already open for a year or more.
Last month, Independent The disclosure is being tested Listed for 2029 As the backlog waited for four years to the defendants and the victims for justice.
It comes when Sir Brian Leaveson prepares to publish a report on the “once-in-generation” reforms in the court system to reduce the load on Crown Courts.
In response to the latest data, the minister of courts and legal services, Sara Saikman KC MP said: “Despite the hard work of the people in the criminal justice system, the situation in our Crown Court is reaching the braking point.
“We inherited a court crisis with a growing backlog, which would be 100,000 hits before 2028 at the current rate of growth.
“It is only unacceptable that any victim has to wait for years to see justice and it is clear that the status quo is not working.
“Only radical improvement can give Swift justice to the victims and that is why we asked Sir Brian Leaveson to make recommendations for a change of generation to be published in the coming weeks.”
The government asked Sir Bryan to consider the major overhall, including giving more punishment for magistrates and presenting intermediate courts, which would look into some cases made by a judge and two magistrates rather than a long jury trial.
He will also consider that new technology including Artificial Intelligence can be used to run capacity in courts.
However, the Law Society has warned only “continuous investment” in the judge, arguing that a new court establishing “money, time and energy” will ruin.
A 38 -year -old mother from South London is one of the delays in “Quitting” after being listed for 3 January 2029.
She will face allegations of occupation with intention Supply cannabisWhich she refuses in a two -day hearing in the Woolwich Crown Court.
In another case, the possibility of running for three days, three men in the same court, on January 15, will prosecute the theft of motor vehicles, which they also deny.
The cases were described by Stephen Nelson, who represented one of women and men, as “not straight and complicated”-and said that the delay was “leaving the jaw”. He warned that a customer was in poor health and perhaps in 2029 could not live to see his case to hear his case.
in March, Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that the judges would sit collectively for 110,000 days in the following year, 4,000 more allocated for the previous period, to help the victims look at justice faster.