Latest court backlog figures: "depressing" for the British public and crime victims, says Bar Council
Responding to new government figures out today, which show the latest number of cases in the criminal courts backlog are actually increasing in the Crown Court, Amanda Pinto QC, Chair of the Bar Council, said:
“These latest figures make depressing reading for the British public, victims of crime and those involved in the justice system. The government must focus its energy on what is, or is not, happening in our courts; rather than blaming others it must take responsibility and do what is necessary to rescue the whole system now by injecting the significant investment it needs. Law and order means keeping the public safe as well as ensuring access to justice. We have seen what lack of funding for law and order achieves – rising crime, but low detection rates; long delays to cases, with many collapsing before they get anywhere near a court; and all because government after government has failed to invest in justice.
“Backlogs growing at the rate of thousands of cases per week can only be solved by sustained, proper investment right across the system. Such long-term funding, if made, will give us the prize the public deserves: law and order restored, people able to exercise their rights and those who have committed crimes being brought to justice. It is a prize a government committed to law and order must surely want to win.”
