By james art Anthony Rogers said he was “extremely concerned” about the backlog of cases waiting to be heard in the crown courts and feared it could soon reach 100,000.
Victims are being frustrated “every day” as the backlog grows, with them now withdrawing from at least one in three trials, he warned.
Speaking to the PA news agency as his annual report was published, he said now was the time to stop “tinkering” around the edges to fix problems in the criminal justice system and instead have a “fundamental” rethink of the way by which the cases are processed.
This could include considering whether “long-standing principles” of justice could be changed to manage the crisis, such as resorting to some judge-only trials and seeing magistrates deal with more cases instead of crown courts, he suggested.
The chief inspector of the watchdog, which monitors the work of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said its prosecutors were facing a workload of more than 100 cases at the crown court, with some even dealing with nearly 200 cases at once – something “unprecedented” so as he raised the alarm about the strain this was putting on the system.
He also highlighted how temporary measures to reduce prison overcrowding by releasing some prisoners early have not helped to ease the burden on prosecutors due to the high number of remands.
At the end of September, 17,662 prisoners were behind bars in custody awaiting trial or sentencing. This represented 20% of the prison population in England and Wales at the time (86,966), figures from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) show.
Mr Rogers said: “I am extremely concerned as chief inspector because I just don’t see how without radical action we can stop the vicious cycle of these cases increasing.
“We now have a backlog of 71,000 (crown court cases).
“Now I’m seeing stacks of cases from prosecutors that have never been seen before.”
“We now have many prosecutors in the Crown Prosecution Service working on a caseload of over 100, and in some places as many as 200 cases per prosecutor.”
In 2016, after the number of cases exceeded 80, it “became a problem,” he said.
The backlog is now so great that many trials are listed beyond the remand period – which can risk defendants being released if cases are not processed quickly.
“We are now in our 25th year – we have not seen anything like this in the entire history of the inspectorate.”
While he welcomed funding for the criminal justice system in this week’s Budget, Mr Rogers said the money “isn’t going to fix it because money can buy extra services but there aren’t people going in there to be able to spend that money’.
“We have to stop tinkering. Radical action is needed now.
“It’s more about fundamental thinking about how cases are heard in the crown court, whether cases should go to the crown court, whether some of the long-standing principles of justice can be changed.”
“There are other types of crimes that go to court that are likely to be better dealt with more quickly in the interests of victims and defendants in the magistrates’ court.” Very radical.
“This is government action which is radical, but these are things I’m talking about. Should we have trials with judges only? Absolutely radical.”
“But without this kind of radical action, I predict that 71,000 will reach 100,000 eventually, soon.” I don’t see what will stop him,” he added.
The sentencing review recently announced by the government was also welcome, but “it won’t happen quickly”, he said.
Meanwhile, “victims are frustrated every day as the backlog increases. One in three lawsuits now loses its victims.
For the system to work effectively, there must be about 25,000 to 30,000 ongoing court cases, he said, adding: “We have to find a way to get back to those numbers.
“I am quite concerned at the moment. I think we’re at that point in the system where we’re just going to lose it.
He stressed that he thought the CPS was “providing a good service under enormous pressure”, adding: “I’m actually sometimes surprised how well they’re doing under the pressure I see now.”
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said: “This Government has inherited a criminal justice system in crisis, with a record and growing backlog.
“Although we are saddled with a challenging financial legacy, this Government is committed to addressing the backlog. In addition to increasing sitting days, we have also extended magistrates’ sentencing powers from six to 12 months, freeing up 2,000 sitting days in crown courts to deal with the most serious cases.’
When contacted, CPS said they did not intend to comment.