The UK’s criminal justice system is facing significant delays, with some trials being postponed until as late as 2028. A Sky News investigation at Leicester Crown Court revealed a criminal justice system described as chaotic and ineffective, characterised by:
- Delayed Trials: Victims and defendants are experiencing waits of up to 460 days, with some cases stretched into future years due to a lack of resources like courtrooms, judges, and barristers.
- Systemic Issues: The backlog in the crown courts is growing weekly. This delay is attributed to insufficient courtrooms, with around 15% to 20% remaining unused daily due to staffing shortages, alongside an increase in charges by the police and early releases from prisons due to overcrowding.
- Professional Frustration: Barristers are moving away from criminal law to other, less chaotic areas of legal practice. This exodus is partly due to the system’s inefficiencies along with court staff shortages and increasing case volumes compounding the crisis.
- Public and Legal Outcry: There’s a strong sentiment among legal professionals and the public that justice is being denied due to these delays. The system is criticized for not functioning effectively, with the Criminal Bar Association chair, Mary Prior KC, highlighting the broken nature of the current setup.
- Infrastructure Problems: The physical state of court buildings is deteriorating, and even basic facilities like computer systems for tracking cases are unreliable, exacerbating the delays.
The judge then takes the unusual step of addressing the crisis to us in open court.
“I have cases day in, day out that I am having put over. It can be years, if you lose a date in 2025 it is 2026.
“All these cases you have to decide who gets priority… fraud cases are being put on the back burner. In my position I have cases put over for months, even years.”
As a rule, judges don’t do interviews, so this is as close as we’ll get to hearing what he thinks.
He is clearly exasperated and remarkably candid: “I don’t know where things are going to go but they aren’t going to get any better,” he says.
Inside the UK’s ‘wild west’ court system where people may have to wait until 2028 for justice to take place – Sky News
Read the full Sky News article Inside the UK’s ‘wild west’ court system where people may have to wait until 2028 for justice to take place.
“If you think about it, if we don’t have a functioning criminal justice system, we are in a position where you have people roaming the streets who are committing serious offences and there’s no retribution for that.
People aren’t getting justice quick enough and if they’re not… what’s the point in any of it? People will start to give up.”
Barrister Annabel Lenton – Sky News
This situation in the UK’s criminal justice system underscores an urgent need for investment and reform to ensure timely and effective justice.
Check out our related articles on The Courts of England and Wales, Rule of Law, Innocent until Proven Guilty, Open Justice, R v Sussex Justices, Lady Chief Justice and the highly questionable Sussex Family Justice Board.
The Ministry of Injustice is not the Ministry of Justice nor is it affiliated in any way with the justice system, legal profession or any law enforcement agencies.
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Is the UK Criminal Justice System Broken ? was last updated on the 16th January 2025
