Issue 204  31st July 2021

Under plans confirmed by the Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland QC, around 60 Crown Court rooms will reopen their doors by September following the lifting of most restrictions in England and Wales last week. Additionally, 32 Nightingale Court rooms – temporarily set up over the past year to increase capacity and reduce delays – will have their leases extended to April 2022. The sites, which include a hotel in Manchester and conference centres in London and Birmingham have been dealing with non-custodial criminal trials and will continue to help alleviate pressures on nearby Crown Courts.

Meanwhile, judges will have the option to open court rooms for longer under new ‘Temporary Operating Arrangements’ (TOA). The measure – which would be completely at the discretion of independent judges – enables a court room to run two lists, one in the morning and one in the afternoon instead of the standard 10am - 4pm hours...

The Ministry of Justice has proposed two models that judges can use if appropriate to their court. Both will run alongside normal operating hours in the other court rooms:

• A ‘blended model’ which involves the running of two separate jury trials listed in one courtroom. One in the morning from 9am to 1pm, and one in the afternoon from 2pm to 6pm.
• The ‘remote model’ is for sessions held entirely remotely where hearing takes place outside of the standard operating hours (9am-5pm). These sessions would consist of non-trial work, such as Pre-Trial Preparation Hearings (PTPHs), mentions, and sentencing. This would benefit those with caring responsibilities, removing any commutes.

Commenting on the latest Government announcement on courts, Chair of the Bar Council, Derek Sweeting QC said: “Maintaining additional court space until next March is good news, but we need long-term investment, not a short term fix. The consistent use of remote hearings where appropriate will help clear the backlog, but sentencing via a screen needs careful consideration and should not be routine. ‘Temporary Operating Arrangements’ is yet another title for an extended court day. There is little evidence that this measure will increase throughput or allow the court estate to be used more efficiently. Following the closure of over 300 courts, it was assumed that it was reasonable for court users to leave home at 7.30am and travel for up to two hours one way, just to arrive at court. A longer court day will have an impact on all court users, particularly those reliant on public transport and with caring responsibilities.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to cut crime by tackling drug misuse and using electronic tagging on more burglars after release. The government is also proposing that every neighbourhood in England and Wales should have a named police officer for residents to contact. The PM said it meant victims could speak to someone who knew the area...

Boris Johnson also said he wanted to see hi-vis "chain gangs" as punishment for anti-social behaviour. "If you are guilty of anti-social behaviour and you are sentenced to unpaid work, as many people are, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be out there in one of those fluorescent-jacketed chain gangs visibly paying your debt to society," he said.

Under the Beating Crime Plan, more burglars, robbers and thieves would have their location monitored with electronic tags 24 hours a day after leaving prison. The document also says Project Adder - which targets drugs gangs, offers help to addicts and increases the use of drugs testing when arrests are made - will be expanded from five areas of England to 13. The new areas covered will be Newcastle, Bristol, London's Hackney and Tower Hamlets, Wakefield, Liverpool, Knowsley and Wirral...

Ministers are also removing rules introduced by former Prime Minister Theresa May which made it harder for officers to use their section 60 stop and search powers...

The government's plan also includes:

• A pilot scheme to test the benefit of sending an officer to every reported burglary, to be trialled in Greater Manchester
• Proposals for league tables ranking how quickly police forces answer 101 and 999 calls
• More officers to deal with children truanting from school
• A £17m programme to persuade young people who attend hospital with a stab wound or come into contact with police to stay away from violence
• £45m for specialist teams in schools in places with high levels of violence

Prime minister Boris Johnson has renewed his attack on so-called 'lefty lawyers' – this time suggesting that 'left wing' criminal justice lawyers act against the public interest. In an interview with LBC’s Nick Ferrari today, Johnson was asked to respond to comments by Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer that the Conservatives had become the party of crime and disorder. Johnson replied: ‘When you look at Labour, you see a party that voted consistently against tougher sentences for serious sexual violent offenders. The Labour opposition has consistently taken the side of, I’m afraid, left wing criminal justice lawyers against, I believe, the interests of the public.’ Today’s attack comes nearly a year after the PM told the Conservative Party Conference that the criminal justice system was being hamstrung by ‘lefty human rights lawyers’.

The police’s national fraud reporting service is being scrapped after damning failings were exposed by a Times investigation. Action Fraud, which has had complaints from thousands of victims of crime, will be replaced with “an improved national fraud and cybercrime reporting system”, the government said. A new force dedicated to fighting cybercrime will also be set up within the National Crime Agency to investigate the most complex and serious cases...