Courting success

Courts are running more efficiently with fewer delays, more community justice schemes are in use and more domestic violence victims are having their cases heard in specialist courts, according to Her Majesty’s Courts Service’s 2007– 08 annual report. During 2007–08 courts across England and Wales heard more than 2.2m criminal cases in the magistrates’ courts; 120,000 criminal cases heard in the crown court, and there were 2m civil cases. Last year saw an increase in the fine payment rates and greater compliance with outstanding warrants for breach of court orders, partly thanks to the nationwide rollout of text messaging as a means of contacting hard to reach defaulters. A small claims mediation service dealt with 3,500 mediations of which over 2,400 were successful.