Issue 452  30th May 2026

Almost 60,000 arrest warrants were issued for defendants who skipped court in England and Wales last year, up nearly 50% since 2020 in further evidence of the “horror show” in the criminal justice system. The figures, obtained in an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches to air on Friday 29 May, also show that more than 30,000 failure-to-appear warrants are outstanding, meaning that tens of thousands of criminals could be on the run after being charged. It is unclear how many have more than one warrant to their name. More than 7,000 of the outstanding warrants were issued before 2020, meaning the subjects have been on the run for six or more years, and more than a quarter relate to people accused of category A offences – the most serious and complex cases including rape, armed robbery and manslaughter..

The crown court backlog stood at more than 80,000 cases at the end of last year, more than double pre-pandemic levels, and is expected to reach 100,000 by 2028. The prison population is expected to reach 100,000 by the end of the decade, more than double the figure in 1990. Data obtained by the Press Association shows that 625 crown court trials are not expected to be heard until 2029 and a further 29 are scheduled for 2030...

More high-profile cases will be televised under plans announced by justice secretary David Lammy to expand court broadcasting and improve the public’s understanding of the criminal justice system. Lammy and the lady chief justice have agreed to let sentencing remarks by the chief magistrate to be broadcast. Following a recommendation by the judicial-led Transparency and Open Justice Board, the government will also bring forward legislation to allow High Court cases to be broadcast. In a letter to the House of Commons justice select committee, Lammy said the broadcasting of court sentencing remarks has been important in widening the public’s access to, and understanding of, the criminal justice system.

The Conservative administration introduced legislation in 2020 that allowed broadcasters to film High Court and senior circuit judges sitting in the Crown court. The first Old Bailey sentencing was broadcast in July 2022. Supreme Court cases have been live-streamed for several years. The first full Court of Appeal case was live-streamed in 2018. Broadcasting in Scotland has been less restrictive, with broadcasters being able to apply to film trials since 1992...

Following a swift and detailed examination of the cases, the Attorney General has made the decision to refer the cases of the Fordingbridge Three to the Court of Appeal. After receiving multiple requests to review the sentences, the Attorney General’s Office obtained copies of the papers relating to this case. These included the facts of the offending, the judge’s findings and the sentencing guidelines, which have been carefully considered. A reference under the Unduly Lenient Scheme can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient, but likely to be unduly so. The Court of Appeal will now decide whether the sentence imposed was unduly lenient, and whether to increase the existing sentence...

In a new research report published on 27 May 2026, “They don’t understand abuse”, CWJ presents insights from survivors of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and women’s specialist services about police and prosecution practice when survivors are accused of offending, and recommends reforms. The research, funded by the Olwyn Foundation and conducted by Pragna Patel, co-founder and former Director of Southall Black Sisters, and co-founder/director of Project Resist, reveals high levels of distrust and disappointment in police and prosecutors amongst women who have suffered abuse and been accused of offending.

Most of the women’s service providers who participated in the research stated that they routinely dealt with cases where women were criminalised when they were in fact the victims of abuse. The following themes emerged, all contributing to inappropriate responses to victim-survivors accused of offending: Culture of disbelief; Lack of understanding of domestic abuse and coercive control; Failure to apply the public interest test; Failure to implement a trauma-informed response; Discrimination against Black, Asian, minoritised and migrant women. These deficiencies in the criminal justice process lead to injustices that have far reaching consequences for victim-survivors and their children, and that make it impossible for women to trust the criminal justice system as a site of protection...