Courts: Crimes of Violence

(asked on 18th November 2014) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2014 to Question 209535, at which court each such violent incident took place; what the nature of each such incident was; and who the victim was of each such incident.


Answered by
Shailesh Vara Portrait
Shailesh Vara
This question was answered on 25th November 2014

HM Courts & Tribunals Service takes the issue of security within courts extremely seriously and has a robust security and safety system to protect all court users and the Judiciary.

This system includes mandatory bag searches, metal detectors and surveillance cameras, as well as court security officers who have legislative powers to protect all those in the court building. The powers of the court security officers include the ability to restrain and remove people from the building should there be a need.

Our security system is continually monitored to ensure that it is effective and proportionate and mitigates against the risks faced.

Information on incidents of physical or verbal assault reported in Magistrates’ Courts and Crown Courts between April 2010 and March 2013 is provided in the table below. Providing more information about which incidents specifically involved physical violence could only be achieved at disproportionate cost due to the need to redact personal details.

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