Crown court backlog could hit 100,000 without ‘radical’ action – watchdog

A watchdog has called on the Government to take “radical” action to overhaul the criminal justice system as he raised grave concerns over the soaring caseloads faced by prosecutors.

Anthony Rogers said he is “exceptionally worried” about the size of the backlog of cases waiting to be dealt with by crown courts and fears it could soon hit 100,000.

Victims are being let down “every day” as the backlog rises, with them now pulling out of as many as one in three crown court trials, he warned.

Speaking to the PA news agency as his annual report was published, he said now was the time to stop “tinkering” around the edges to fix problems in the criminal justice system and instead have a “fundamental” rethink on how cases are handled.

This could include considering whether “long-standing principles” of justice can be altered to grip the crisis, like resorting to some judge-only trials and seeing magistrates deal with more cases instead of crown courts, he suggested.

The chief inspector of the watchdog which monitors the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said its prosecutors are facing crown court caseloads in excess of 100 and some are even dealing with close to 200 cases at a time – something “never before seen” as he raised the alarm about the strain this was placing on the system.

He also highlighted how the temporary measures to cut prison overcrowding by freeing some inmates early has done nothing to ease the burden on prosecutors because of the high numbers of prisoners on remand.

At the end of September, 17,662 prisoners were behind bars on remand while they awaited trial or sentence. This accounted for 20% of the prison population in England and Wales at the time (86,966), Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show.

Mr Rogers said: “I am exceptionally worried as a chief inspector, because I just can’t see how without radical action we can stop the vicious cycle of those caseloads increasing.

“We’re now sitting on a backlog of 71,000 (crown court cases).

“I’m now seeing caseloads of prosecutors which have never been seen before.

“We now have lots of prosecutors in the Crown Prosecution Service working with caseloads well in excess of 100 and in some places, coming towards 200 cases per prosecutor.”

In 2016, once a caseload surpassed 80 it “became a problem”, he said.

The backlog is now so great that many trials are being listed outside of the custody time limit – which could risk defendants being released if cases do not proceed quickly.

“We’re now in our 25th year – we have never seen anything like this in the whole history of the inspectorate”, he said, as he described the pressure on prosecutors as “relentless” and the situation “unsustainable”.

Although welcoming funding for the criminal justice system in this week’s Budget, Mr Rogers said money “is not going to fix it because money can buy extra services, but there aren’t people there to get in to be able to spend that money.”

“We’ve got to stop tinkering. Radical action is now needed.

“It’s more about thinking fundamentally about how cases are dealt with in the crown court, whether cases need to go to the crown court, whether some of the long-standing principles of justice can be altered.

“There are other types of crime that go to crown court that will be probably better dealt with more quickly in the interests of victims and defendants in the magistrates’ court. Very radical.

“That’s a Government action that is radical but they’re the sort of things I’m talking about. Should we have judge only trials? Absolutely radical.”

“But without that sort of radical action, I’m predicting that 71,000 will reach 100,000 eventually, soon. I can’t see what’s going to stop it”, he added.

The sentencing review recently announced by the Government is also welcome but “not going to happen quickly”, he said.

In the meantime “victims every day are being let down as the backlog increases. One in three crown court trials are now losing their victims.”

For the system to work effectively, there needs to be about 25,000 to 30,000 court cases running, he said, adding: “We’ve got to find a way to get back to those figures.

“I am quite concerned at the moment. I think we are at this point in the system where we will just have lost it.”

He stressed he found the CPS to be “delivering a good service under immense pressure”, adding: “In fact, I’m sometimes surprised how well they’re doing under the pressure I’m now seeing.”

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: “This Government inherited a criminal justice system in crisis, with a record and rising crown court backlog.

“While we are bound by a challenging financial inheritance, this Government is committed to bearing down on outstanding cases. In addition to increasing sitting days, we have also extended magistrates’ sentencing powers from six to 12 months, freeing up 2,000 sitting days in the crown courts to handle the most serious cases.”

The CPS said it was pleased the watchdog’s report “recognises the tough but important work our prosecutors do every day”.

“Supporting our staff is vital, not only to ensure manageable workloads but so we can deliver justice – work is under way to ease individual caseloads and speed up the court process, including boosting the number of advocates in our ranks so fewer trials are adjourned because there are not enough lawyers,” a spokesman added.