Criminal Courts: Independent Review

Shabana Mahmood Excerpts

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Shabana Mahmood)]

This Government inherited a justice system in crisis with huge delays to hearings and victims left in limbo waiting to see justice done. We are committed to reducing the outstanding caseload in the Crown court and ensuring justice is delivered.

The first thing we had to do was understand the scale of the problem facing us. When this Government took up office in July, errors in His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service data meant there was no published data for the Crown court caseload. I asked the Department to commission an external auditor to look into the data so we could be certain of the scale of the challenge ahead of us in tackling the Crown court backlog.

Following this independent assurance review, we can now confirm that the open caseload in the Crown court has risen to around 73,000, up from 38,000 cases in December 2019. This means victims are waiting far too long to see justice, with some trials now being listed for 2028.

The data published today has been through an intensive series of reviews and validation to ensure it reflects the reality seen at the courts. However, these statistics show the scale of the challenge and now we must continue to bear down on the backlog to deliver swifter justice for victims. Since July, we have begun that work.

We first increased the number of Crown court sitting days this financial year to 106,500, a higher allocation than in six of the last seven years. We then expanded magistrates court sentencing powers so they can hand down custodial sentences of up to 12 months for a single triable either way offence. This frees up the equivalent of 2,000 sitting days per year in the Crown court so judges can focus on the most serious cases.

Meanwhile, we are continuing to use 16 Nightingale courtrooms across seven venues to hear more cases up and down the country and are recruiting approximately 1,000 judges and tribunal members annually across all jurisdictions.

But we must also be honest. The scale of this challenge is greater than these measures alone can achieve. Even if our courts sat at their maximum possible capacity, we could not stop the backlog from increasing, let alone bring it down.

If victims are going to see justice done more swiftly in this country, we cannot simply do more of the same. We need to do things differently.

That is why today, with the agreement of the Lady Chief Justice, I have asked Sir Brian Leveson to undertake a review of our criminal courts to consider how we can speed up the hearing of cases, and I am grateful for his support with this.

The review will have two goals:

First, to consider how the criminal courts could be reformed to ensure cases are dealt with proportionately, in light of the current pressures on the Crown court. The review will look at when we use our Crown courts and when we should make more use of other courts. Specifically, whether more cases should move from the Crown court to the magistrates court and whether offenders should be given the right to appeal a magistrate’s sentence, where today they are able to appeal their case in the Crown court. Sir Brian will also consider the case for a new “intermediate court” for cases too serious to be heard by a magistrate alone but which could be heard by a judge alongside magistrates.

Second, to look at how the criminal courts could operate more efficiently. This includes consideration of how new technologies, including artificial intelligence, could be used to improve the criminal courts.

The pressure facing our criminal courts is considerable and I am grateful for everyone who works tirelessly across the system to ensure justice is heard. The backlog is at a record high. In the short term, it will continue to rise. But this review will ensure that, in the years to come, we bear down on the backlog. Criminals will face the consequences of their actions more swiftly and victims will receive the justice they deserve.

[HCWS300]