A significant backlog in Welsh crown courts has raised concerns about the justice system’s efficiency and the impact on victims and defendants
Cardiff: So, it turns out that the crown courts in Wales are really struggling with a massive backlog of cases. Sir Brian Leveson, who’s heading a big review on this, says it’s a real crisis. He’s talking about some pretty radical changes to fix things.
He mentioned that the number of cases piling up is just not sustainable. Right now, some court dates are being pushed all the way into 2027! That’s a long wait for anyone involved, whether they’re victims, witnesses, or defendants.
Sir Brian was on BBC Radio 4 and made it clear that this situation is unacceptable. He pointed out that cases are coming in faster than they can be resolved, which is a huge problem.
He’s also looking into ways to possibly divert some cases away from the criminal courts altogether. Imagine if some jury trials were scrapped and instead, we had these “intermediate” courts with a judge and two magistrates. It could help ease the load.
Plus, there’s talk about giving magistrates more power to hand down longer sentences. Sir Brian has done a similar review before, and he believes that the system needs even more drastic changes now.
Recently, the Ministry of Justice shared some figures showing that there are over 73,000 criminal cases waiting to be heard in crown courts across England and Wales. That’s a 3% increase from just a few months ago and nearly double what it was before the pandemic.
Among those cases, there are nearly 15,000 sexual offence cases, including over 3,000 related to adult rape. It’s a tough situation that really needs addressing.