Criminal Law

Magistrates’ courts face a backlog of over 480,000 cases, according to new figures laying bare the devastating impact of coronavirus on criminal justice. The figures were released as ministers prepare to announce the first emergency \’Blackstone courts\’ where cases can be held observing social distancing rules. According to preliminary government data, the number of outstanding […]

The lord chief justice has said that ministers should consider limiting the availability of jury trials if court delays become unmanageable. Lord Burnett of Maldon expected no change to the way that serious charges — such as rape and murder — were tried in England and Wales. The least serious offences would continue to be

The criminal court system will need to run at more than twice its normal capacity over the next three years to deal with the coronavirus backlog and workload created by a growing police force, the Criminal Bar Association has predicted. Citing figures from the Institute for Government, the CBA said if there are 20,000 more

The police were using the power to detain too freely and detainees’ lawyers were failing to challenge its use, according to a report by Transform Justice. The group calls for increased scrutiny around detention to not just focus on detainee’s health and welfare, but to question the rationale for detaining at all. Transform Justice argue that

The criminal justice system in England and Wales is facing a backlog of 40,000 criminal cases, which will not be solved even if all crown courts are brought into service under physical distancing rules, the Criminal Bar Association has warned. Even before the pandemic, some criminal cases were being listed more than a year ahead

Most of the people wrongly charged under the Coronavirus Act were probably not legally represented, the director of public prosecutions has said. Max Hill QC told the House of Commons justice select committee today that 44 cases were incorrectly charged under the act, of which 31 were noted and stopped at the first hearing. Hill

Individuals under investigation by law enforcement bodies have a reasonable expectation of privacy up to the point they are charged, the Court of Appeal has confirmed. Dismissing an appeal by a news agency barred from revealing the identity of a US businessman identified in documents concerning a bribery probe, the court ruled that the fact that

Offenders who commit alcohol fuelled offences may now be forced to wear ‘sobriety’ tags following the introduction of new legislation as of 19 May 2020. The ankle tags, which are to be rolled out across England and Wales, perform around-the-clock monitoring of an offender’s sweat to determine whether alcohol has been consumed. If they drink

The head of judiciary in England and Wales has given his backing to cutting the number of jurors in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. ‘It is going to be necessary to look at more radical measures to enable jury trials to continue,’ Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett. Cases were already backing up prior to the