In a devastating report this week, PAC—one of Parliament’s most influential committees—highlighted the impact of the delays and urged the government to act now rather than waiting for Sir Brian Leveson’s independent review of the criminal courts to report in the autumn.
PAC’s chair, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, said it was ‘disappointing’ the backlog is at a record high of 73,000, compared to a record low of 33,290 in March 2019 pre-COVID.
‘Victims of rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) can wait for three years or more for these cases to come to trial,’ he said. ‘In 2024, 59% of victims of adult rape dropped out of the justice system because research shows they could not bear the trauma any longer.
‘The remand population has almost doubled from 9,602 in 2018 to 17,600 in September 2024 (20% of the entire prison population). 770 prisoners have been on remand for over two years. These are shocking statistics involving sometimes innocent people which should be carefully scrutinised to see how the system could be improved’.
The report, ‘Crown Court backlogs’, noted more than a third (35%) of prisoners on remand in 2022 did not ultimately receive a custodial sentence, including 13% who were acquitted entirely. It urged the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice to look for ways to reduce remand numbers to 2019 levels, freeing up 8,000 prison places.
It recommended the MoJ and judiciary try to reduce the number of on-the-day postponements of hearings in serious sexual and violent cases, which are highly distressing for victims, and to protect funding for victim support services.
It also expressed concern that one in four trials fail to take place on their scheduled date (ineffective trials) compared to about 15% of trials pre-pandemic. It noted some of these delays would be ‘straightforward to resolve’: for example, building maintenance issues, poor case preparation, or where remand prisoners arrive late at court.
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