The Bar Council and Criminal Bar Association (CBA) argue this would cut waiting times for many of the most vulnerable victims and complainants, would fulfil a Labour Party manifesto pledge, and would tackle the backlog more effectively than current proposals to reduce the number of jury trials.
CBA chair Riel Karmy-Jones KC said: ‘Juries do not cause delays.
‘But we could start improving the system for those serious cases now—making a real difference to the victims and the accused now if, rather than wasting time on an un-evidenced ideological argument around the efficacy of juries, we started focussing on what actually matters: improving the investigation process, speeding up disclosure, prioritising these trials, and setting up specialist jury courts to hear them quickly.’
The CBA and Bar Council point to the success of an ‘expedited trial scheme’ at Preston Crown Court, which reduced the waiting time between the first plea hearing and completion of the case by 16%.
The current Crown Court backlog stands at more than 80,000 cases. However, there has been a ‘notable proportionate increase’ in the volume of receipts for sexual offences—a 19% rise—in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the previous year, according to the government’s latest quarterly statistics for October to December 2025. Looking specifically at rape offences, ‘the number of receipts reached 1,280 representing an 18% increase on the previous year, slightly below the series peak seen in the previous quarter (1,373)’.
Last July, the Law Commission recommended the introduction of specialist sexual offences courts within existing court building, in its 621-page ‘Evidence in sexual offences prosecutions: a final report’, published as part of the government’s End-to-End Rape Review.
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