Unprecedented court case backlogs and record prisoner numbers could be on the way as a result of government reforms and COVID-19, according to an Institute for Government (IfG) and Chartered Institute for Public Finance & Accountancy paper published this week, ‘The criminal justice system’.
It calculates that the prison population could rise to 90,000, its highest level, and possibly over 95,000 by 2023/4, due to court delays and plans to recruit 20,000 police officers. It includes research showing waiting times to hear cases could rise by more than 70% if there’s a six-month lockdown. Nick Davies, IfG programme director, said there would be ‘huge delays’.
