The Tories’ incompetence has made a mockery of our justice system

Editorial: Criminals are gaming the system by pleading not guilty and relying on delays to avoid trial

Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, needs to develop some crusading zeal to reform the well-known inefficiencies in the system (PA Wire)

In this government’s effort to have as many public services as possible break down simultaneously in an election year, the backlogs in the criminal justice system are often overshadowed by NHS waiting lists, a dysfunctional asylum system, bankrupt local councils, overcrowded prisons, stretched universities and labour shortages in teaching, policing and social work.

But the delays in the courts are reaching crisis point. The Independent reports that criminals are now gaming the system by pleading not guilty, calculating that trial delays mean that they are likely to escape justice.

This is the opposite of the way incentives are supposed to operate in the system. Perpetrators are encouraged to plead guilty at an early stage in return for a lighter sentence and an earlier start to rehabilitation. This is better for them and for the rest of us, saving the cost of a trial and making reoffending less likely.