The outgoing director of public prosecutions has issued a warning that the backlog of cases awaiting trial will not be resolved in the near future.
In an interview with the BBC, Max Hill KC stated that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) staff are “hugely overburdened”. He also highlighted the difficulties faced by the service in finding enough barristers to handle court cases.
Despite these challenges, Hill encouraged rape victims to trust in prosecutors, assuring them that their cases were being prioritized.
Hill’s tenure as director, which began in 2018 and ends this month, has been marked by unique challenges in the criminal justice system. These challenges include ongoing budget cuts, court closures due to the pandemic, and strikes by criminal defense barristers over government legal aid pay rates.
Currently, there is a backlog of 65,000 trials in crown courts, a significant increase from the pre-pandemic figure of 40,000 in 2020. The CPS estimates the number of individual defendants to be even higher, at around 75,000.
The government aims to reduce the backlog to 53,000 cases by March 2025. However, the situation continues to worsen.
In an exclusive broadcast interview with the BBC, Hill emphasized the limitations posed by the number of courts and the availability of judges.
Insufficient Barristers
Since Hill assumed his role in 2018, CPS staffing has increased by a third to over 7,300. However, this number still falls short of the peak staffing level of 8,000 in 2010.
Hill also highlighted the shortage of criminal barristers, who operate independently of the CPS and present cases to judges and juries during trials.
He expressed his concern about the CPS struggling to find external barristers available to prosecute cases, explaining that their own advocates were fully occupied with court proceedings.
Hill acknowledged the immense pressure faced by CPS staff and expressed his desire for a smaller workload per prosecutor.
The Ministry of Justice claims that courts are operating at full capacity. Additionally, ministers have removed the cap on judges’ remuneration, resulting in Crown Courts sitting for over 100,000 days in 2022, the highest level since 2018.
Last year, the government resolved its long-standing dispute with barristers over defense case pay rates, hoping that a significant increase in wages would attract lawyers back to criminal work.
Prioritizing Serious Cases
Hill emphasized the need to reach agreements with both the courts and defense lawyers on which cases should be dealt with expeditiously. This prioritization would include defendants in custody or willing to plead guilty and be sentenced.
Given the absence of a feasible system-wide solution to reduce the backlog, Hill expressed the importance of prioritizing charged cases moving forward. He cited custody cases and adult rape cases as the top priorities, with a potential focus on high-end domestic abuse cases if he were to continue in his role.
He acknowledged that the backlog would not be resolved within a few months or even a year.
Progress in Rape Prosecutions
Currently, over 2,300 rape cases are awaiting trial, a four-fold increase since before the pandemic. The average duration from offense to resolution is now three and a half
