Justice delayed, they say, is justice denied. After a decade of underfunding and two years of the pandemic, courts in England and Wales are grinding to a halt. Dominic Raab, the lord chancellor, thinks there’s no quick fix for the criminal legal aid sector. Mr Raab claimed instead that he would take his time to get things right. The evidence suggests that he is getting things wrong.
The backlog in crown courts, which hear the most serious cases, now stands at more than 59,000 cases, up on both before and since the onset of Covid-19. These include rape and sexual offence cases – in which the moving or rescheduling of trials at the last minute causes needless distress. Not only is the backlog lengthening, but the law is taking longer to run its course. As the average wait between crime and verdict in crown courts increases, so does the probability that a case collapses as victims drop out. Prior to the pandemic, defendants waiting to plead their innocence or victims desperate for their day in court could expect it to take a year and two months to see justice done. It’s now almost two years.
