Criminal justice system ‘about to crack’ as prosecutors refuse work over low pay
The criminal justice system is “about to crack” with a record number of trials being aborted at the last minute because no one is available to prosecute them, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has warned.
A fresh row is bubbling after the government agreed to boost legal aid fees by 15% in October in a bid to end defence barrister strikes.
The deal – made by Brandon Lewis during his brief stint as Justice Secretary under the Truss administration – has created a disparity of fees between defence advocates and prosecutors.
Most barristers in England and Wales are self-employed, meaning they can choose what side of the work to take.
Kirsty Brimelow KC, the chair of CBA, said prosecution barristers are “effectively striking” by refusing to take on cases for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and opting for defence work instead.
“A lot of barristers are saying they’re no longer going to prosecute, because they don’t want to be in a case where they are receiving 20% less than the person who’s defending,” she told Sky News.
“The CPS is finding that they’re ringing round hundreds of chambers and they still can’t find anyone to take the case to prosecute it, and I’ve come across that myself.”
‘The justice system is failing’
Ms Brimelow called the situation an “unprecedented crisis” that will hinder efforts to clear the crown courts backlog, which soared to record highs during the pandemic.
“It used to be unheard of that you would have trials that would be adjourned because you cannot find a barrister to prosecute, and now it’s pretty common.
“This impacts on delays as cases are bounced back sometimes for another year. It impacts on the trauma for witness complainants and it impacts upon defendants who are saying they’re not guilty and can’t get on with their lives either.
“So all around the justice system is failing.”
Kirsty Brimelow, chair of the Criminal Bar Association
The shortage is particularly being felt in rape and serious sexual assault offence cases (RASSO), which require barristers with special qualifications to prosecute.
‘Almost impossible’ to return rape trials
A senior barrister who prosecutes for the CPS said it is “becoming almost impossible” to return complex grade 4 trials “because so many grade 4s have just walked away”.
But one grade four RASSO barrister said: “Why would anyone now accept new CPS instructions? It means in 18 months time still working for already inadequate rates, can’t be done.”
Max Hill KC, the head of the CPS, has also backed calls to raise prosecution fees to address the shortage.
A government spokesperson said they are “working closely with the CPS to help make sure the criminal justice system can function effectively”.
“Spending Review settlements have been maintained and any requests for further funding will be considered by HMT in due course,” they added.
It provides a fresh headache for ministers as they come under mounting pressure to tackle the NHS crisis and wave of industrial unrest grinding the public sector to a halt.
Last month, the Ministry of Justice hailed “significant progress” since the government published its landmark rape review action plan, including a rise in rape charges and convictions.
But the CBA says while it is encouraging more cases are reaching court there has also been an “exponential rise” in RASSO trials being cancelled on the day due to a lack of staff and resources.
Official figures show that in the year to June 2022, 314 rape and serious sexual assault trials were “ineffective” – meaning they could not go ahead on the day – because of a lack of court rooms, judges, defence advocates or prosecution barristers, up from 109 in the previous year.
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Criminal barristers in England accept pay rise offer
The amount of prosecution “no-shows” were 15 times higher than the previous year and 10 times more than the yearly average for past seven years, according to the CBA analysis of the data.
Data for the most recent quarter has not been published, but the CBA say they are aware of a string of serious rape trials that were aborted last minute in December as no cover could be found for prosecution.
One example included a case in Newcastle involving a defendant in his 70s and several complainants – which has now been re-listed for July 2023.
Effect on victims and witnesses
James Oliveira-Agnew, a barrister who specialises in RASSO trials, raised concern about prosecutions being dropped if victims traumatised by long delays withdraw their support, and of unfair acquittals due to the effect of delays on witnesses’ memories.
Data from April to June 2022 suggests rape victims are already waiting an average of 1397 days – almost four years – for their cases to be complete, with the biggest increase in delay coming post charge.
Mr Oliveira-Agnew said he has cases in his diary for the middle of 2024 “because that’s the earliest time they can get things in” but there is no guarantee they will go ahead if prosecutors can’t be found.
“What we are seeing happening on the ground a lot now, which I have never seen before, is turning up on the day of the trial (defending), we will get a judge if we are lucky, the witnesses and everyone who is required but you won’t have a prosecutor.
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“If you’re a complainant, and something like this has happened to you and you build up everything and you come to court on that first morning, ready to have this traumatic experience to be told it’s cancelled, it’s soul destroying.”
Mr James Oliveira-Agnew said a barrister will earn £1,600 more defending a five-day rape trial than prosecuting it “so parity of fees is vital”.
‘A break down in trust’
He said the long-term consequence of not taking action will be a break down in trust of the justice system.
“If people don’t trust the justice system, people aren’t going to report crimes because they’re not going to see the point, and people are going to commit crimes because they’re going to get away with it.”
The government has introduced a raft of measures to speed up justice for victims and improve the system since the start of the pandemic, including lifting the cap on the number of days courts can sit on and quadrupling funding for victim support services to £192m a year by 2025.
But Ms Brimelow said: “The system is about to crack and there has to be urgent action of increasing the prosecution fees so that they achieve parity with the defence.
“Otherwise, it’s a total waste of resources piling in huge amounts of money into Victim Support, when the alleged offences are never going to see the inside of a Crown Court.”
Criminal barristers in England and Wales have entered an indefinite strike
A CPS spokesman said: “The criminal justice system depends on equality of arms between defence and prosecution.
“We are continuing to engage with Bar leaders regarding prosecution fees as we continue to use a mix of in-house and external advocates to meet our needs and support the provision of quality advocacy services.”
World
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
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The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
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‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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