The CBA strongly rejected the government’s explanation that criminal barristers were partly to blame for the chaos in the country’s courts and prisons.
“Prisons are full because for 18 months criminal barristers have done what is required prosecuting and defending, getting trials done. That’s why the sentenced prisoner population is up 5,000 to over 71,000,” a CBA spokesperson said. “The criminal bar will continue to do what is required in order to ensure justice is delivered in as timely manner as possible for defendants, complainants, victims of crime and their families.”
A spokesperson for the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) said today the number of people remanded in custody has reached “around 16,500” as a result of “worsening trial and sentencing delays due to underfunding and chronic shortages of criminal barristers”.
But the MoJ sought to blame the pandemic and the recent barristers’ strikes for the deteriorating situation. [Action by criminal defence barristers only, ended 10 October 2022]
New figures published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in March showed that the magistrates’ court backlog stood at 370,731 cases in December, up seven percent on the previous quarter. The crown court backlog, meanwhile, reached 67,573 at the end of last year, up eight percent on the same time in 2022.”
Source: X
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