LABOUR’S Shadow Justice Secretary has accused the Government of effectively decriminalising serious criminal offences by failing to fix the criminal justice system.
Steve Reed told GB News: “The situation is absolutely appalling with delays in the courts.
“One of the things we found out is that if you are the victim of rape, and you actually make it to court… then one in six of those court cases gets delayed just before it’s about to happen. The average wait, if you’re one of those few people that who is raped, is now over 1,000 days, for the first time ever.
“That’s nearly three years. That is corrosive to a victim’s sense of justice to have to wait that long.
“In cases as serious as violence, sexual assault against women and children, or rape, in many cases, the case collapses because the victim or or the survivor simply drops the case because it’s too agonising to have to wait that long. And in many cases, of course, they’ll be living in the same neighbourhood or community as their alleged attacker.”
Speaking in an interview during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, Mr Reed added: “It is an absolute dereliction of duty on the part of the Government to have allowed our criminal justice system to become so broken that people are not prosecuted. Victims are denied the justice that surely they deserve.”
Asked about more delays caused by strikes, he said: “Over recent years, one in four barristers has said criminal barristers have simply quit the profession which is one of the one of the problems leading to court delays.
“There aren’t enough barristers or judges or indeed courts, because the Government has closed down so many.
“Barristers are not known as a particularly militant group, they’ve never gone on strike before, they’re taking this action, because so many of them find it’s impossible to make a living.
“Junior barristers, some of them will be on less than £12,000 a year. That’s why people are walking out of the profession.”
Questioned if some offences have effectively been decriminalised, Mr Reed said: “Why are we in this situation where we have effectively seen the government decriminalise crimes as serious as burglary, robbery, fraud, rape.
“The fault lies with the Government, Boris Johnson, and the Home Secretary Priti Patel and the whole lot of them. They really have let go of the entire criminal justice system, from prosecution to the courts to the prisons.
“The whole thing is broken. And we have to now have a fresh start and a fresh approach to get tough on the criminals where this government has gone soft.”
