Britain · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
Andy Burnham Orders Specialist Rape Courts Across England And Wales Within Two Years
Specialist rape courts to roll out across England and Wales within two years. Each Crown Court will have at least one specialist courtroom.
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Specialist rape courts rollout
Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced that the United Kingdom will equip courts across England and Wales with specialized rape and serious sexual offences courtrooms within the next two years. The government said all Crown Courts in England and Wales will have at least one courtroom specifically prepared to handle cases of rape and serious sexual offences, with the approach designed to place victims at the center of the criminal justice system.
“For too long, victims of rape and serious sexual offences have felt let down by our justice system.”
Burnham said victims of rape and serious sexual offences have felt "let down by our justice system" and he stressed that "Rape processing rates remain embarrassingly low". The government statement said the plan prioritizes rape cases to reduce the uncertainty and delays victims experience, and it includes waiting rooms and private entrances for them.
Remote evidence and training
The BBC said each crown court will have at least one courtroom set up to hear such cases, while alleged victims will be able to view proceedings remotely and give evidence from a separate room via video link. The BBC said victims will be provided with private entrances and waiting rooms to separate them from defendants, though this will be dependent on the architecture of each building.
Rape Crisis England and Wales said the rollout was a "significant step forward" and its chief executive Ciara Bergman said the reforms reflect the urgency of ensuring courts are fit for purpose. The Ministry of Justice said the changes are expected to cost around £23m of the Ministry of Justice's budget, and it said court staff will also be given "trauma-informed training" and a single person of contact will be assigned to each survivor.
Backlog, fixed dates, taskforce
Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones said the new measures were part of efforts to bring down a backlog of Crown Court cases that stood at 80,098 at the end of March. The BBC said Davies-Jones told BBC Breakfast that the introduction of specialist courtrooms "isn't enough on its own" to tackle the backlog and stressed the importance of the Courts and Tribunals Bill to improve "timeliness, effectiveness and also prevention".
The government said trials will be given a fixed date rather than placed on floating lists, and Burnham said the change was an effort to "rebalance the scales of justice and put victims first". The Guardian reported that victims commissioner Claire Waxman warned the crown court backlog of rape and sexual offence cases was now "significantly worse" than when she first called for specialist courts in 2021, and she said court delays could prevent many rape victims from accessing the specialist courtrooms.