Judicial changes
Last week MPs voted in favour of reforms to our criminal justice system. For too long the criminal justice system in this country was not treated as a fundamental pillar of a functioning society, but as a problem to be deferred, defunded and ultimately ignored. Today there are nearly 80,000 cases waiting for trial.
The Government’s current projections show that without structural reforms, the backlog will reach 130,000 by 2030 and a staggering 200,000 by 2035. We cannot forget that behind every single one of those cases is a victim waiting for justice. The real-world impact of this backlog is that justice is denied to victims.
The average case now takes 255 days to complete but for some crimes, such as rape, the average wait is 423 days. This is a disgrace. We are seeing survivors walking away from the system entirely because they simply cannot wait years for a resolution.
This Labour Government is choosing a different path. We are pulling all three levers needed for change: investment, reform and modernisation.
The Government is backing the system with the funding it needs to stabilise. We are scrapping the artificial cap on Crown Court sitting days, meaning judges can sit as often as staffing allows. There will also be a £92 million uplift for criminal legal aid solicitors, £287 million for essential court maintenance and £550 million in dedicated funding for victim support.
However, we know that financial measures alone will not be sufficient to tackle the problem, which is why we are introducing necessary structural changes to stop criminals “gaming the system.” We are creating a Crown Court Bench Division where a judge sitting alone can hear cases likely to attract sentences of three years or less. Under these proposals, juries will remain the cornerstone of our system for the most serious crimes.
Jury trials currently account for only 3% of cases. By moving the threshold for cases that will get a jury trial, we will reduce demand on Crown Court time by nearly 20%—the equivalent of 27,000 sitting days. This means more time to make sure that victims of serious crimes like rape get a trial without delay.
Finally, I am pleased that the Government is proposing to upgrade the use of technology in our criminal justice system. Deploying AI to transcribe hearings and summarise judgements to free up judicial time, expanding the use of video hearings and implementing a National Listing System to end the "postcode lottery" for victims.
These changes are about more than just clearing the backlog. They are about restoring faith in the rule of law, ensuring that victims of crime have the courage to come forward and that the state has the competence to deliver a trial in months, not years.
