Coronavirus: Fewer criminals to face prison due to outbreak

Less serious crimes may be punished using fines and cautions to avoid adding to court backlog

Fewer suspected criminals will face prison because of the coronavirus outbreak as prosecutors are told to drop some cases or allow them to be handled out of court.

Amid warnings that Britain’s criminal justice system is in “meltdown”, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has issued new guidance saying the unprecedented circumstances must be considered when deciding whether charges are “in the public interest” or “a proportionate response”.

Prosecutors may discontinue proceedings or stop cases by offering no evidence against defendants, or accept guilty pleas to some charges — or less serious ones — to avoid trial.

They can also choose to refer cases back to police to be dealt with using fines, cautions or community resolutions, such as meetings with victims and rehabilitation courses, which do not require a court hearing.

The CPS said the change would not affect “most” serious or violent types of crime, which will still be deemed in the public interest to prosecute.

“This will only relate to a very small amount of cases and offences relating to Covid-19 will remain an immediate priority,” said Max Hill QC, the director of public prosecutions.

“Our very function is to prosecute, but we cannot ignore the unprecedented challenge facing the criminal justice system.

“We must focus on making sure the most dangerous offenders are dealt with as a priority as we adapt to challenging circumstances. And in less serious cases, it is right that we consider all options available when weighing up the right course of action.”

The court cases most likely to be dropped include those where an offender’s sentence would be shorter than the time they would spend on remand in prison awaiting trial.

More than half of court buildings in England and Wales have been shut because of coronavirus, and those still open are running a skeleton operation hearing only urgent cases.

Before the outbreak started, there was a backlog of more than 37,400 crown court cases and the number is expected to rocket during the lockdown because no jury trials are able to proceed.

New guidance published on Tuesday said coronavirus had “created significant difficulties”, adding: “The crisis will have a long-term impact on the criminal justice system, particularly in relation to the expanding pipeline of cases waiting to be heard.”

It comes after previous guidance issued on 31 March asked police to prioritise cases they are considering for charge, and focus on dealing with the most dangerous offenders.

That document classed crimes including murder, robbery, terrorism, sex attacks, domestic abuse and coronavirus-related offences as the most serious, and historic investigations, common assault, criminal damage and serious fraud among the offences of least priority.

It said there is a “general presumption” in favour of bail rather than remanding people in custody, and that in lower-priority cases, the guidance said police “should charge with a long court bail date”.

The CPS said the new instructions did not apply to specific crime types, and that factors including the harm caused to victims would feed into case-by-case decisions whether to charge.

Caroline Goodwin QC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, said: “There is a reality check right now on the availability of police and prosecution resources that was at full stretch even before the latest pandemic and shutdown impacting the very fabric of our criminal justice system.

“Given the need to devote stretched police and prosecution resources on clear Covid-19 related offences and the charging priority hierarchy, there may be concerns that some police forces will be reluctant to charge or even bail suspects in some of the lower level offence categories.”

The coronavirus outbreak is also having an impact on the way offenders are monitored after being freed from prison, because face-to-face meetings violate social distancing requirements.

They are only being used for terrorists and freed inmates who do not have access to a phone.

Doorstep visits, where probation officers stand outside homes and speak to offenders from a distance or on the phone, are the default option for around 16,000 other high-risk offenders and those with domestic abuse or other safeguarding issues.

Campaigners have called for thousands of prisoners to be released because of the spread of coronavirus inside jails (PA)

Other freed prisoners are being supervised using video and voice calls, which are conducted more frequently than the face-to-face meetings they replace.

Unpaid work and other programmes imposed as part of community sentences have been stopped because of the ongoing lockdown.

A Justice Committee evidence session on Tuesday heard that the National Probation Service (NPS) was “overwhelmed” with the workload as 2,000 staff self-isolate.

Justin Russell, HM Chief Inspector of Probation, told MPs there were “real concerns about how they could manage the risk of harm to the public” remotely.

“I think it’s a poor substitute for proper face-to-face supervision and home visits, where you’re going in and seeing the circumstance in which they’re living,” he told MPs.

Mr Russell warned of a “huge backlog” of unpaid work that was handed out by courts as part of community sentences, as well as rehabilitation programmes.

Amy Rees, the director-general of probation, said that up to 4,000 prisoners who are to be released early because of coronavirus will not be immediately subject to probation monitoring.

They will be freed under the “release on temporary licence” programme and fitted with GPS tags up to two months before their original release date, following eligibility tests and a risk assessments.

Prisons minister Lucy Frazer said 14 pregnant women and four men had been freed early so far, with “hundreds” more prisoners to be released on Wednesday.

“We will be releasing up to 4,000 prisoners but that is only one part of our strategy,” she added.

Jo Farrar, chief executive of HM Prison and Probation Service, said 13 prisoners and three members of staff had so far died with coronavirus.

Almost 6,300 prison staff are self-isolating, and testing for the virus among officers started over the Easter weekend. So far 203 cases have been confirmed among inmates and 49 for staff.