How UK’s justice system is straining under pressure of coronavirus pandemic after years of underfunding

Justice in crisis: The justice system in the UK is straining under the pressure of an unprecedented crisis. The Standard is looking into problems within the justice system and how they can be fixed
The Court of Appeal in London
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The justice system in the UK is straining under the pressure of an unprecedented crisis – derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, struggling to cope with years of underfunding, and at risk of losing the public’s trust entirely.  

When the Covid-19 lockdown was first imposed in March, jury trial were halted and the courts scrambled to finally embrace technology in a desperate bid to keep the show on the road.  

This kind of setback would have been a major blow for a healthy justice system coronavirus and taken many months to recover from, but this country’s courts were already weakened and ill-prepared to bounce back swiftly from a pandemic.  

The backlog of cases in the crown courts had been allowed to grow dramatically throughout 2019 thanks to the government’s decision to mothball courts and limit the time judges could sit to hear cases.  

Now, that backlog has grown to more than 51,000 and there are few signs that the tide is set to be turned any time soon. The courts urgently need more space, to hear cases in socially distanced surroundings, but are hampered by years of selling off its assets.  

Victims and their families - as well as defendants - are now left reeling when told their trial will be heard three or four years after the crime was actually committed.  

There are mounting fears that witnesses will struggle to remember what they heard and saw, victims may choose to shun justice altogether rather than endure years of delay and frustration, and defendants are at risk of getting lost in the prison system as they wait for their day in court.  

Prosecutors have already identified rape as a particular problem area, with record low numbers of convictions and warnings that attackers are being allowed to roam free.  

Added to the explosive mix is the hostile stance this government has taken towards lawyers, branding them ‘lefties’ and ‘do-gooders’ and the Prime Minister himself claiming the legal profession is to blame for the delays.  

Furious lawyers says the funding of criminal justice has been dwindling for years, while cuts to the legal aid scheme has left the profession on its knees.  

While Britain claims to have a legal system that is the envy of the world, its component parts now loudly complain of being driven out by paltry remuneration and warn the next generation of lawyers will not sign up at all.  

There is no shortage of willingness within justice to try to fix the system, from court staff and lawyers up to judges. An £80m emergency package of measures was agreed by the government to cope with the pandemic, but the long-term future rests heavily on the Treasury bankrolling a comprehensive recovery plan.  

The Evening Standard has been looking into the problems within the justice system and how they can be fixed.  

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