A barrister holds their horsehair wig during a protest outside the Old Bailey law courts in London, on June 27, 2022.
Photographer: Jason Alden/BloombergAlmost 10,000 Sex Crime Cases Languish in UK's Broken Court System
From overcrowded prisons to record court backlogs, the criminal justice system is being pushed to breaking point.
Criminal barrister Paul Prior has defended and prosecuted some of the most serious sexual offense trials in England over the past 20 years. In April he is scheduled to represent at trial one of two people accused of a sexual assault that was first reported in 2019. A delay of almost five years.
Such lengthy time lags, says Prior, used to be unusual. Now they are common even for cases deemed among the most urgent in the system. And for victims, defendants, witnesses, lawyers and court officials the backlog is getting ever longer. Fewer court sessions, plus the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which led to the suspension of jury trials, combined with a lack of specialist rape and serious sexual offense barristers have exacerbated the situation meaning that nobody was available to represent Prior’s defendant until April, and even that might get pushed back.