If justice is not served in good time, it is not served at all. @TheCriminalBar

If justice is not served in good time, it is not served at all. Chair Tana Adkin KC on the publication of the government’s record to June 2023 for criminal court cases and timeliness. Record delays to cases being heard, especially rape and serious sexual offence cases, mean that victims, witnesses and defendants are held in limbo unable to move on with their lives, just as dedicated criminal barristers, judges, juries and court staff are all working hard to ensure cases reach a just conclusion as quickly as possible.

Criminal barristers have specialist training to prosecute and defend the most serious and sensitive cases in court and want to work with government to maintain and improve the quality of justice delivered, so in return government must do its part in getting the resources to where they are needed. The flagship government policy to allow vulnerable complainants to give their accounts closer in time to events by way of pre-recorded evidence remains under-resourced.   Despite a full year after the Criminal Bar’s action was suspended, funding that was made available for the important work of pre-recorded evidence for vulnerable complainants remains stuck, just like those stuck waiting for their day in court.