With record numbers of backlogs at magistrates and crown courts in England and Wales, the shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry, said more junior prosecutors were “not being used to their full potential” in crown courts because of an “unnecessary and outdated legal constraint ». There are 127 criminal law specialists employed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as associate prosecutors. They handle less contentious cases at court level, such as bail applications by defendants, uncontested applications for civil injunctions and criminal proceedings relating to less serious non-custodial offences. But Labor said they were prevented from taking on the most serious cases faced by prosecutors in the magistrates’ courts, such as first hearings for offenses due to be sent for trial at the crown court. The party called for this law to be changed, saying associate prosecutors had years of experience and were already at an advanced stage in their careers, but were forced to undergo costly and time-consuming retraining as general counsels in order to become prosecutors. Lifting the restrictions on the 127 associate prosecutors employed by the CPS would represent an increase in the number of people able to handle the workload currently reserved for crown prosecutors by up to two-thirds, Labor said. “With the epidemic of violent crime, fraud and anti-social behavior plaguing our communities, the Government should explore every practical option that would help tackle the backlog in our justice system and get the wheels of justice turning again faster Thornberry said. Labor will “immediately remove this restriction and allow these staff to apply for prosecutorial posts”, he said, adding: “This is the kind of action we can take, common sense that we need, to have all the hands on deck to clean up the backlog gripping Britain, instead of a Tory government with its head in the sand.” There was a backlog of 344,261 cases in magistrates’ courts in England and Wales at the end of the first quarter of 2022. While the number was down from a high of 422,169 at the end of the second quarter of 2020, it is still significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels of just under 300,000 at the end of 2019. The Attorney-General’s Office and the CPS have been contacted for comment. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The issue of the backlog in the courts will be an obvious one for the new Prime Minister as she takes office on the same day criminal lawyers in England and Wales go on indefinite strike over legal aid funding levels. Justice Secretary Dominic Raab is a strong supporter of leadership candidate Rishi Sunak and is unlikely to remain in the cabinet if his rival Liz Truss, widely seen as the front-runner, wins. Earlier this month, Lucy Fraser, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and former solicitor-general, strayed from her new report in an article which said it was “simply unacceptable that victims are not compensated in time”. “Fixing the system, speeding up justice, bringing criminals to justice can and must be done,” he argued, pushing for a radical overhaul of the court timetable to take power out of the hands of judges and hand it over to Ministry of Justice.
