4 November 2025 by Catherine Baksi
We do not need to reinvent the wheel to fix the court crisis
It's clear that when members of the public see the state of the criminal justice system up close, they are shocked.
We know this from the way that delays and inefficiencies in London’s magistrates’ courts have been laid bare in a draft report from ‘courtwatchers’ who took part in an innovative project by the charity Transform Justice.
Over six months from 5 February to 31 July, 175 Londoners - a third of whom had no previous experience of the criminal justice process - observed 2,335 hearings in the capital’s 15 magistrates’ courts.
They related that 37% of all hearings resulted in a delay or adjournment, adding to the stress of defendants, victims and witnesses and wasting a huge amount of time and money.
The causes won't surprise criminal law solicitors. Waiting for pre-sentence reports from probation (18%) and defendants (who were not in custody) not being present (17%) were the most common reasons for delays, followed by the court needing more information from probation services (12%).
Missing evidence (11%), missing defence lawyers (8%), defence lawyers not being ready (7%) and the lack of an interpreter (5%) came next. [...]
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