Northern court delays 'must be cut by third'

Delays in bringing cases before the North’s Crown Courts must be slashed by a third within the next three years, the Attorney General said today.

Lord Goldsmith laid down the challenge as part of a series of targets aimed at speeding up an at times laborious criminal justice system.

Prisoners in the North are held in custody for a year on average before they get to court – the longest wait in the UK.

But the Government declared its intentions to reduce these times at a conference in Belfast.

Lord Goldsmith said: “In respect of the pre-committal stages of Crown Court cases, by 2010/11 we expect to see a reduction of around 30%.

“And we have set particularly challenging standards in youth cases where we want to see a 44% improvement in the processing of charge cases.”

The new measures were revealed by the Attorney General during the annual Criminal Justice Conference, which also discussed how the system will change with the transfer of policing powers from Westminster to the Stormont Assembly next May.

But it was the court delays Lord Goldsmith focused on, stressing that the judiciary were just as anxious to ensure progress.

“The Lord Chief Justice has set target times for the criminal process in the Crown Court and has asked the presiding RM (resident magistrate) to consider similar targets for case progress in the Magistrates Courts and Youth Courts,” he said.

“We share an interest in improving the delivery of justice and together these targets tackle delay in the criminal justice system from end to end.

“The onus will be upon all criminal justice agencies to ensure that both sets of standards are being met.”

New protocols have already been established between the Police and Prosecution Services, and attempts made to improve communication, in an effort to root out the causes of delay.

Case Progression Officers and Youth Case Champions have also been appointed, while a pilot is to be launched based on experiments in England and Wales.

Along with the Crown and Youth Court targets, the plan is for summary case waiting times in the Magistrates Court to be reduced by 27% and 33% for adults and youths respectively.

Criminal Justice Minister Maria Eagle declared: “We are making it a priority for the criminal justice system to become more efficient and more responsive.

“These new standards set a real challenge, and we will all need to raise our game to meet them.”