Inefficiency in the criminal courts is deepening. The criminal justice system has wider inefficiencies including delays in case preparation, delivery of prisoners, provision of interpreters and pre‑sentence reports.
So says Sir Brian Leveson in volume two of his independent review of the criminal courts in England and Wales. Leveson described an ‘unprecedented’ crisis in criminal justice. He wrote: “When I started work on this Review [December 2024], the open caseload in the Crown Court had already reached a record high, and it has continued to grow apace since”, meaning delays, which he said ‘have devastating impacts on all those involved in the criminal justice process as well as a corrosive effect on the integrity of, and public confidence in, the system’.
His report goes over the ‘many factors which are driving inefficiency across criminal justice’. A backlog in cases coming to court will only get worse, he warned, given ‘increased police and prosecutorial activity due to increased police officer experience and investigator numbers as new entrants mature and gain experience’ under the ‘Police Uplift’ begun under the Boris Johnson Conservative Government.
Criminal justice, which has been underfunded for many years, will grow in complexity, he set out; ‘the rise of cyber fraud and fraud generally is particularly worrying’. Synthetic or ‘deep fake’ evidence presents serious challenges to the integrity of the criminal process, he warned. Leveson also noted a rise in cyber security risks; yet older ‘legacy’ IT systems (that is, less secure) are still in use across criminal justice agencies. Leveson also wrote of a need for ‘substantial investment in the Crown Court estate’. He described that estate as ‘increasingly costly to maintain yet visibly deteriorating’. Due to ‘historic underinvestment’, the maintenance backlog stands at about £1.3 billion, he wrote.
Comment
For the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) Joint Leads on Criminal Justice, Danielle Stone (Northamptonshire) and Alison Hernandez (Danielle Stone), welcomed Sir Brian’s ‘honest and detailed’ review. They said: “It mirrors our experience and frustrations of a system riddled with problems. It’s unacceptable that the courts are now asking victims to wait until 2030 for their case to be heard.
“As PCCs, we fund local victim services which play a vital part in supporting victims through the broken system Sir Brian describes. Solving the problems the sector faces is our shared responsibility – police, prosecution, courts, defence, judiciary all have a part to play to make the system work. What’s clear is we cannot ignore the problems. Being more open to working collaboratively to solve problems and deal with cases more quickly will benefit all those who come into contact with the criminal justice system, particularly victims, but witnesses and defendants, too.
“We are disappointed by Sir Brian’s assertion that Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Deputy Mayors should no longer chair their Local Criminal Justice Boards (LCJBs) given the responsibility that Local Policing Bodies have for victims and the wider public. We urge the government to make clear that the bodies that replace PCCs must be included on LCJBs as this is essential to ensure the public have a voice in the criminal justice system, locally and nationally.”
