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Some facts to counter this #FakeLaw from @MoJGovUK. [THREAD]
1. The Crown Court backlog dropped to a 10-year low in 2019 very briefly and only because the government created a huge backlog in the investigative stages of criminal cases, so fewer suspects were being charged. https://twitter.com/crimelinelaw/status/1302547641725784064
1. The Crown Court backlog dropped to a 10-year low in 2019 very briefly and only because the government created a huge backlog in the investigative stages of criminal cases, so fewer suspects were being charged. https://twitter.com/crimelinelaw/status/1302547641725784064
2. What was actually happening - as I pointed out in this thread in March - was that criminal cases were taking longer and longer to be dealt with. Since 2010, there has been a rise of 21% in the length of time it takes between a crime occurring and court proceedings ending. https://twitter.com/barristersecret/status/1243140161426411520
3. Having artificially “cut” the court backlog (which we all warned hadn’t actually gone away) the government tried to cut corners by further reducing “court sitting days” (the number of courtrooms that courts are allowed to open each year). https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/court-days-cut-despite-backlog-of-crime-cases-after-ministry-of-justice-audit-a4230416.html
4. The backlog immediately started soaring. It soared throughout 2019 - increasing by 13% in only a year - and throughout the first quarter of 2020. Again, we warned that this was storing up disaster and causing huge delays. https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/aug/19/criminal-cases-delayed-across-england-and-wales-as-courts-lie-idle
5. This all meant that when Covid hit, the criminal justice system was uniquely badly placed to withstand the slightest tremor. The government had cut it to the bone and already built in a standard delay in criminal cases of YEARS, as I warned at the time: https://twitter.com/barristersecret/status/1181958070655766528
