Swift and fair justice denied by record court backlogs

News

Criminal court backlog figures for July to September 2025 have been published today (Thursday, 18 December).*

“Record backlogs in both the Crown Court and magistrates’ court show the need for investment and reform across the entire criminal justice system in order to get this crucial public service back on track,” said Law Society of England and Wales president Mark Evans.

“The new figures demonstrate why simply transferring more work from the Crown Court to the magistrates’ court is not an effective option. There needs to be a reduction in cases coming into the criminal justice system altogether rather than moving cases from one under-resourced part of the system to another.

“Decades of underinvestment by successive governments have caused restrictions on sitting days, a chronic shortage of judges, court staff, prosecuting and defence lawyers, and court rooms in serious disrepair.** Victims, witnesses and defendants are being denied swift and fair justice with cases being listed in 2030.

“Many of the issues, which include prisoners not being delivered to court in time and courtrooms sitting empty, can be solved with funding and reform instead of headline-grabbing but unproven measures like cutting jury trials.***

“There are no quick fixes. Only wholesale reform and investment across the entire system, as envisaged by Sir Brian Leveson, can bring down the backlogs and ensure swift and fair justice.”

Notes to editors

*See the latest figures which show 373,084 outstanding cases in the magistrates’ court and 79,619 in the Crown Court, of which 20,155 cases have been open for a year or more.

**See our survey on the state of the courts.

***The Law Society has said that the Leveson proposals, while an uncomfortable compromise, were understandable given the extensive challenges the system faces but going beyond them is not. See our response.