Criminals gaming the justice system as cases jammed for years in court backlog

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Criminals are gaming the system by pleading not responsible and counting on crippling trial delays to evade justice, The Independent has been informed.

Laying naked the extent of the disaster in the courts, figures obtained by this publication counsel the variety of cases ready greater than three years for a verdict has skyrocketed a minimum of sevenfold since 2019 to exceed 1,280 final June.

As delays have soared, the proportion of early responsible pleas has plummeted – falling by practically half in 4 years – as suspects attempt to manipulate the system.

And as the backlog grows, victims of rape and sexual assault have described the ache of their trauma being dragged out over years, as they wait for their cases to be pursued.

Have you been affected by the courts backlog? Email andy.gregory@impartial.co.uk

A document 134 rape cases had been amongst the 5,776 trials ready greater than two years as of September, evaluation by The Independent has discovered.

That compares to only 10 rape cases out of the 344 hit by the similar size of delay in 2019. The variety of different sexual offence cases delayed for greater than two years has additionally soared, from 38 5 years in the past to an all-time excessive of 701.

The proportion of suspects pleading responsible pre-trial or at the first crown court listening to has fallen from 71 per cent in 2019 – when the backlog was at its lowest – to 48 per cent in the yr to September.

Bar Council chair Sam Townend KC mentioned the fall in responsible pleas suggests an growing development of criminals attempting to control the justice system to keep away from conviction and imprisonment.

“Young criminal men, who should be pleading guilty at an early stage, become more aware that their day of reckoning is getting pushed back further and further and, because of the high rate of ineffective trials, perhaps may never come at all,” he informed The Independent.

“Victims and witnesses are becoming ever more disillusioned or simply give up. My concern is of a complete collapse in public confidence in the system.”

Fewer suspects pleading responsible is driving court backlog

The president of the courts system has additionally cited fewer folks pleading responsible as a key driver of the backlogs.

“That may be a vicious circle,” the woman chief justice Baroness Carr informed MPs. “It might be because of delays, so people decide they are going to plead not guilty and see what happens down the line.”

The document 12,000 severe sexual offence cases caught in the backlog may be skewing the responsible plea fee, with defendants usually pleading not responsible to such costs given their damaging nature, the Criminal Bar Association mentioned.

Barrister Rebecca Upton mentioned prosecutors usually fail to offer proof to attorneys the beneficial week in advance of a defendant’s pre-trial plea listening to, probably main suspects to imagine they’ve a greater probability of acquittal.

“An effective criminal justice system means that perpetrators plead guilty early for a discounted sentence and to start the process of rehabilitation,” added Mr Townend. “This stops victims and witnesses having to go through the harrowing experience of reliving the crime when giving evidence and it also saves the taxpayer the costs of trial and preparation.”

The information additionally confirmed that the variety of theft cases ready years for a verdict shot up from simply two to 200 over the similar interval, whereas these involving violent crimes rose from 31 to 1,357, having each hit document highs final yr.

Victims’ commissioner Baroness Newlove mentioned the information uncovered by The Independent “illustrates the stark reality of chronic and unacceptable delay in our justice system”.

“Three years is simply too long for anyone to have to wait for justice; no victim should be expected to put their life on hold for an indefinite period,” Baroness Newlove mentioned. “Many will conclude they are better off withdrawing from the process, leaving them with no resolution and society without justice.”

This grim warning was echoed by a sexual violence survivor who has been ready two years for her trial in the north of England to conclude. She mentioned the delays have left her questioning “whether there was any point in reporting my case in the first place”.

“I had mentally prepared myself last year for my initial court date, only to be informed on the day that it was getting delayed,” she informed The Independent. “The longer the trial is delayed, the longer I have to wait to fully move on from what happened to me. My anxiety has also increased as my new trial date is almost a year later.”

The backlogs are additionally fuelling the jail overcrowding disaster, with the remand inhabitants at a document excessive. In September, as many as 365 court cases ready over three years for a verdict concerned jailed suspects, up from simply 36 in 2019, information obtained by The Independent underneath freedom of data legal guidelines confirmed.

While the information suggests there have been 297 trials involving remanded suspects backlogged for three to 4 years, 50 ready 4 to 5 years, and 18 ready over 5 years, the Ministry of Justice warns its five-year figures are notably susceptible to error and can’t be trusted.

Warning that “we cannot continue in this crisis”, Prison Officers’ Association chief Steve Gillan mentioned: “These figures demonstrate the crisis the criminal justice system is in, which in turn puts prisons under enormous pressure, and it’s POA members left picking up the pieces with a high level of assaults, self-harm and suicides.”

Even if bailed, suspects spend years underneath the risk of conviction due to the delays. Of the 1,051 cases backlogged for between three and 4 years, up from simply 48 in 2019, information exhibits 61 concerned theft, 187 had been drug-related and 50 public order offences.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson mentioned: “Many of the cases cited will have now been completed but not closed in our data systems – as such, these figures do not accurately reflect the current picture.

“The most recent figures show more criminal cases are now reaching the crown court than at any point over the last two years, due to the raft of measures we’ve introduced to let courts run at full throttle, recruit more judges and invest more in our courts.”