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Bid to cut crown court backlog no longer achievable, spending watchdog warns
(www.independent.co.uk)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Severe jail overcrowding is one of the biggest obstacles to reducing the delays, but leaking buildings and heating failures are also to blame.
At least a quarter of cases (27 per cent) have waited for a year or more to be heard, prolonging distress to victims, witnesses and defendants, according to NAO figures.
In a report that highlights how logjams in the system affect justice, the watchdog says delays are also risking cases collapsing because victims and witnesses may withdraw, and their memories of evidence decline over time.
The Independent has previously revealed how criminals are relying on crippling trial delays to evade justice by pleading not guilty.
In 2022, the MoJ estimated that half of crown courts were at risk of sudden closure for such reasons, and the report authors warn that buildings not being fit for purpose due to long-term underinvestment may in future be a barrier to reducing backlogs.
The government says increases in numbers of inmates on remand awaiting trial is the leading cause of pressure on prisons.
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