A New Low Point for the Criminal Justice System
The criminal justice system broke an unwanted record last week when it was announced that the Crown Court backlog had reached a new high of 77,000 outstanding trials.
That is an 11% increase since last year and a 25-year peak according to the Criminal Bar Association.
The average age of cases has also increased, with more than 18,000 having been open for more than a year at this point.
The Minister for Courts and Legal Services Sarah Sackman KC responded to the latest figures by saying that “radical reform” was needed to solve the crisis.
What that looks like exactly is difficult to say, even a year after Labour were elected to power.