Tories’ ‘tough new justice plans’ will not help the crisis-hit system

Analysis: Police officers and lawyers pour scorn on ‘unrealistic’ proposals as prosecutions fall and crime rises, Lizzie Dearden writes

The Crown Prosecution Service is hundreds of staff short (PA)

The Conservatives have unveiled a raft of “tough new justice plans” in an onslaught of election manifesto pledges. But legal experts have poured scorn on “unrealistic” proposals, including giving more child murderers whole-life prison terms and getting anyone arrested for knife possession into court within a week.

While the pledges make easy headlines, they have been condemned as mere populist electioneering that would be ineffective at best and damaging at worst.

How they play with the electorate remains to be seen, but the continued stream of dubious legal policy announcements from the Conservatives will deepen animosity from those working in the criminal justice system.

Many have warned of a deepening crisis, seeing the number of prosecutions and trials plummet even as recorded crime continues to rise.

Privately, senior police officers, prosecutors, judges and lawyers are unified in attributing the poor outcomes to years of funding cuts by the Conservatives.

On top of the loss of more than 21,000 police officers since 2010, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is hundreds of staff short, half of all magistrates’ courts have been closed and sitting days have been cut despite a backlog of cases.

While the Tories have recently announced funding boosts for the CPS and police, they do not come near the hundreds of millions of pounds campaigners say are needed to prevent the justice system from breaking down.

The Conservatives’ latest announcements made much of the promised recruitment of 20,000 new police officers, but many doubt the target can be achieved within three years.

And if it is, the Public Accounts Committee is among the bodies warning that the rest of the justice system will not be able to cope with the resulting increase in demand.

Source: Home Office – Police recorded crime (ONS)

The Conservatives are far from the only party to impose politics on the justice system, but the spectacularly bad results of several high-profile policies continue to be felt.

Theresa May’s 2014 decision to limit the use of police bail caused thousands of suspected sex attackers and violent criminals to be released without any restrictions, sparking accusations that the government had put vulnerable victims’ lives at risk.

And the disastrous part-privatisation of the probation system, implemented by Chris Grayling, had to be reversed by David Gauke earlier this year at a cost of at least £467m.

A “skyrocketing” number of criminals were recalled to prison and more than 200 offenders supposedly being monitored by private companies were charged with murder, while others committed serious offences or disappeared.

And yet, the Conservatives have made “safer streets” one of four key pledges of their 2019 election manifesto.

Those working in the criminal justice system will not trust them to deliver that promise.