Britain will take into account including a brand new intermediate tier to its court docket system, the justice ministry stated on Thursday, as the federal government scrambles to take care of a record-high backlog of circumstances and a jail overcrowding disaster.
Britain has western Europe’s highest fee of incarceration, and is present process a jail capability disaster as a consequence of harder sentencing legal guidelines and lengthy delays within the justice system that hold these awaiting trial behind bars.
Overcrowding pressured the Labour authorities, in energy since July, to launch hundreds of prisoners early.
Information confirmed the backlog at Crown Courtroom, the courts that take care of critical prison circumstances, has risen to 73,105. That’s practically double the 38,000 seen earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, throughout which lockdowns considerably delayed the system, and up from 67,573 a yr in the past.
A evaluate will take into account the creation of intermediate courts, the place circumstances too critical for magistrates’ courts however not critical sufficient for the Crown Courtroom may very well be heard by a choose, supported by magistrates.
The Evaluate is anticipated to publish preliminary suggestions subsequent yr and also will take into account whether or not magistrates ought to be allowed to have a look at extra circumstances, releasing up capability within the Crown Courtroom.
The measures hope to make sure criminals seem in court docket extra rapidly whereas on the identical time rushing up justice for victims, the federal government stated.
