Starmer urged to take charge of courts crisis with system ‘on brink of collapse’
A retired senior judge has called on the Prime Minister to take direct leadership on a growing crisis within the UK’s court system and pressed for a radical transformation of the criminal justice system.
Sir Brian Leveson, appointed by the government last year to conduct an independent review as court backlogs mount and prisons reach maximum capacity, presented his second findings on Wednesday.
The former Court of Appeal judge’s recommendations include the creation of a new position: criminal justice adviser to the Prime Minister.
This role will be central to government operations tasked with overseeing the work of courts, prisons, prosecutors and police.
Sir Brian’s comprehensive report, running over 700 pages, outlines more than 130 recommendations designed to fix systemic problems plaguing the justice system.
“I have never seen such an unacceptable level of pressure on the courts; the system is on the verge of collapse,” he said.
“Victims, witnesses and defendants cannot continue their lives and wait for their cases to be heard for months, sometimes years.
“Systemwide inefficiency undermines the ability of criminal courts to function and increases tension caused by difficult caseloads.”
Sir Brian has proposed a range of measures aimed at increasing the use of artificial intelligence in criminal justice, ensuring more criminals are sentenced from prison via video links and streamlining the court process.
It aims to address “deep-rooted operational problems” and called on the Government to fully embrace its ideas, warning: “There is no magic solution – the review represents a package of reforms: efficiency and funding alone are not enough – only together with structural reform can we address and hopefully overcome the crisis in our justice system.”
Speaking to reporters ahead of publication, Sir Brian called on ministers and criminal justice bodies to “get on with this work” and said some of his recommendations could be implemented immediately.
“The police can pick up the crumbs immediately. The CPS can pick up the crumbs immediately. The court and the judiciary can pick up the crumbs immediately. Do I want it? Yes, I do.”
He said a new adviser to the Prime Minister on justice could be appointed immediately, although legislation to make the role permanent would have to be pursued later.
“I believe we need to continue this,” he added. “Now we have to blame everything on this problem.”
In the first part of his findings presented last July, Sir Brian recommended a reorganization of criminal courts, including a controversial plan to reduce the right to trial by jury.
Plans in its second report, published on Wednesday, would see Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the former director of public prosecutions, take personal responsibility for the crisis by bringing the power to co-ordinate justice policy to Downing Street.
Sir Brian cited “siloed decision-making” in the courts, police forces, prisons, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and probation services, and suggested “fragmented management” was contributing to the declining state of the justice system.
He highlighted Boris Johnson’s government’s commitment to recruit 20,000 new police officers in 2019, without sufficient funding for foreseeable knock-on effects on the rest of the justice system.
He wrote that there was “insufficient preparation for the foreseeable consequences on the part of the CPS (in charging more apprehended offenders), the courts (in hearing these additional cases) and prisons and probation services (in arresting and rehabilitating these offenders).”
Sir Brian likened the criminal justice adviser’s new role to Britain’s national security adviser, with the ability to be a “central coordinator” with oversight from the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Attorney General.
“A criminal justice adviser would be a committed leader who sees criminal justice as the sole agenda, rather than being part of a much larger role,” Sir Brian wrote in his report.
“The criminal justice advisor will work from the center of government coordinating efforts related to the criminal justice system vision.”
Sir Brian said the new role should be written into law to prevent a future government from abandoning it to save money, and also recommended that the adviser take responsibility for criminal justice spending, report directly to the Prime Minister, respond to Parliament regularly and be able to “take a whole system view without a vested interest in any part”.
While the backlog of cases in the Crown Courts of England and Wales currently stands at around 80,000, the Ministry of Justice predicts this number will rise to 100,000 by November next year.
Criminal trials now start in 2030, and there are serious warnings across the criminal justice industry that victims and witnesses are turning away from the court process rather than endure years of delays.
In his second report, Sir Brian recommends aggressively increasing the use of AI, including for CPS lawyers to prepare case summaries, court officials to examine witness statements and act as translators for defendants who do not understand English.
He suggested some pre-trial hearings should be conducted virtually “by default” and that police and professional witnesses should give evidence at hearings via video link.
Sir Brian also suggested many convicted criminals could be sentenced via video link from prison to reduce pressure on court cells and prison transport services.
He wrote: “I recommend that Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the judiciary require that only detained defendants attend in person at sentencing hearings if victim impact statements are to be made in court.”
Sir Brian called for more cooperation between the police and the CPS to ensure faster decisions on whether to bring criminal charges and to prepare cases effectively for the court to reduce wasted hearings.
In the courts, Sir Brian called on the Government to approve unlimited sitting days and said there should be greater flexibility in moving cases between different courts to take advantage of empty courtrooms.
Since the publication of Sir Brian’s first report, politicians and lawyers have highlighted a chronic problem of prisoners being brought to court late, leading to significant delays in trials.
Sir Brian called on ministers to renegotiate the terms of prison transport contracts where possible, introduce tough new targets and monitor issues, and allow prison transports to start using bus lanes to get to court on time.
The retired judge also called for a new strategy to repair the nation’s dilapidated courthouses.
The Government has adopted many of the measures put forward in Sir Brian’s first report and is advancing plans to reduce jury trials in the Crown Courts.
Sir Brian’s second report includes a call for some changes to be implemented immediately, but also acknowledges that some of his ideas will take time and need legislation and funding to be implemented.
Responding to the report, Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor David Lammy said: “Our courts are in crisis and thousands of victims have been waiting too long to get justice. That’s why I’ve made clear that a program of modernisation, investment and reform is needed to help deliver justice both fairer and more quickly.
“Efficiency alone is not a silver bullet, but making the system more efficient and saving time overall is a vital part of a wider package to solve the problem of victims suffering for years to have their cases heard.
“We have inherited a creaking justice system struggling with the burden of modern crime, and using digital technology to make the courts more efficient will be a central pillar of our modernization approach.
“I want to thank Sir Brian and the review team for their hard work to develop solutions to address the crisis in our courts. We have already confirmed that we are taking forward reforms based on his initial recommendations, and we will urgently consider the proposals put forward today and respond to them in the coming weeks.”
The Magistrates’ Association said there was “much to like” in Sir Brian’s report but also warned that proposals to harness the power of artificial intelligence could be too ambitious.
“The history of IT projects in the court system is not a happy one,” it said, noting that some judges still do not have a working laptop and urging the court service to “get the basics right.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described Sir Brian’s recommendations as a “clear and credible path forward” and said: “Victims and the police need a justice system that is faster, less burdensome and gives officers the power to deal with more crimes directly, so we can prevent harm and keep people safe.”
“Sir Brian’s review gives us a way to achieve exactly this.
