A criminal justice adviser accountable to the prime minister, an annual review of legal aid fees and allowing prison vans to use bus lanes are just some of the 135 recommendations in part two of the government-commissioned Leveson review to cut the Crown court backlog.
The lord chancellor and justice secretary, David Lammy, is already pressing ahead with controversial reforms to curb jury trials; one of 45 proposals in part one of Sir Brian Leveson’s review. Publishing part two of the review today, Lammy said the government ‘will urgently consider the proposals’ and respond to them ‘in the coming weeks’.
Part two of the Leveson review, split over two volumes, focuses on proposals to make the criminal justice system run more efficiently.
The most eye-catching of the recommendations is the creation of the post of ‘Prime Minister’s Criminal Justice Adviser’, who would be appointed by and answerable to Downing Street. The adviser, whose role would be enshrined in law, would be solely focused on coordinating work to build a ‘single vision for a fragmented criminal justice system’.
AI features significantly in Leveson’s recommendations, which include greater use of AI tools to summarise the initial details of the prosecution case. Legal aid recommendations include an annual review of fees and a new ‘staged’ payment system to incentivise earlier engagement and remunerate lawyers.
The wide-ranging recommendations also include making bus lanes accessible to prisoner escort and custody services vans to make journeys more reliable.
‘Delays delivering defendants to court due to traffic congestion is one of the many reasons why defendants are arriving late for court, particularly for Crown courts, many of which are in urban areas,' the report states. 'Being able to utilise bus lanes would help to address the journey delays caused due to traffic congestion, therefore ensuring more defendants arriving at court on time and thus reducing both the need for adjournments and the number of ineffective hearings.’
Law Society immediate past president Richard Atkinson, a criminal defence solicitor, said Chancery Lane supports recommendations that the government take positive steps to help recruit and retain defence solicitors. However, ‘we disagree with some recommendations that may compromise the fairness and safety of the justice system, including providing legal advice by video link to people detained in police stations, and remote first court hearings after arrest where people’s liberty is at stake’, Atkinson said.
This is the second major criminal courts review that Leveson has conducted. However, the former Queen’s Bench Division president said today that he had never seen pressure on the courts at such an unacceptable level.
‘Efficiency and funding alone are not enough – only alongside structural reform can we address, and hopefully overcome, the crisis in our justice system,’ said Leveson.
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