Pubdate: Sun, 16 Jun 2002
Source: Independent on Sunday (UK)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/208
Author: Sophie Goodchild, Home Affairs Correspondent

REVEALED: CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN CHAOS

Shock figures show just 326,000 convicted for 5.2 million crimes

Millions of crimes are going unpunished each year and tens of millions of 
pounds spent in the justice system are being wasted, according to a damning 
report from the Government's spending watchdog.

The Audit Commission will reveal tomorrow that only 326,000 offenders were 
convicted between 2000 and 2001 despite police recording 5.2 million 
offences. Around UKP80m is wasted each year through adjournments and 
cancellations of trials.

The figures show a criminal justice system in chaos with "delays and 
inefficiencies throughout the process" and "cases dropping out of the 
system unnecessarily, allowing offenders to evade justice".

The report, which demands "radical change", comes amid new worries over 
rising crime rates. Reports last night said the Government is set to 
publish figures showing a 6 per cent increase in the number of offences in 
England and Wales in the year to March 2002 - the biggest rise for a 
decade. The increase is being driven by a sharp rise in burglaries and 
street muggings.

Tony Blair has already pledged to make crime reduction a priority. This 
week, he will be a key speaker at a London conference on modernising 
criminal justice, organised by the Metropolitan Police and the US Federal 
Bureau of Investigation.

Mr Blair is expected to tell delegates at the conference that too many 
criminals are evading justice. He will also call for defendants' past 
convictions to be made available to juries if relevant.

That is one of a raft of proposals in a White Paper on criminal justice 
reform due to be published this summer. The Prime Minister has already 
announced that the Government is committed to reducing street crime by the 
end of September.

"The pendulum has swung too far in favour of the defendant," said a senior 
Home Office source. "We appreciate that their rights need to be upheld but 
so do victims'. More needs to be done to speed up the criminal justice 
process."

The police and Home Office have already announced measures to relieve 
demands on officers as crime soars.

They include the introduction of police community support officers. The 
officers will initially have the powers of private citizens but the 
Government plans to extend their role so they can detain suspected 
criminals until a police officer arrives.

However, it has now emerged that the force has al-ready drawn up a 
redundancy package to pay off the support officers after three years, the 
duration of existing budgeting.

Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, will also speak at 
the London conference. Last week, he released figures that showed 11 crimes 
were reported every minute in England and Wales. They came from the first 
24-hour snapshot study of a typical day in the criminal justice system. It 
found 16,500 crimes were reported in England and Wales on 1 May.
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