"It is not about playing a game of chess. It is about investing in human beings." Chair of the Criminal Bar Association Tana Adkin KC telling Skynewsuk.com the 24/7 idea for opening criminal courts "almost laughable" due to "decades and decades of underfunding" in the criminal justice system. Of course the criminal barristers left, in particular to prosecute and defend rape and other serious sexual offence cases, have been working 24/7 for decades just to keep an underfunded, crumbling criminal justice system from total collapse. CBA chair Tana Adkin KC told Skynewsuk.com “But is prioritising protest cases the right way to go when the problem in court backlogs is so much wider? She added "The principle that you deal with people as quickly as possible and get them out on bail [and] you set conditions so they don't go back onto the M25 and glue themselves to the road, the principle is fine. "But why should they have that while everyone else in the criminal justice system doesn't?" She also questioned the overall impact of protest cases on the courts, adding: "If you are putting pressure on a system that is already on its knees, it is obviously going to show up more clearly. "Our system should be perfectly able to deal with protesters as we have in the past. We have always had protests and the courts have always managed it. "I think when you are in strained times and you are dealing with a system that is, as I say, on its knees, that's when it is going to show up." There is a more practical element that could cause a headache for Lord Hogan-Howe's suggestion - running the actual courts. CBA chair Ms Adkin KC called the 24/7 idea "almost laughable" due to "decades and decades of underfunding" in the criminal justice system. Figures released by the CBA in 2022 showed 22% of barristers had left the profession since 2016 in protest at low pay for legal aid cases and a crumbling system as money-saving measures took their toll. "The whole shape of things has completely changed since 2011," she told Sky News. "Back then we had a lot more barristers than we do now. We're down to about 2,500 from 4,000 or 5,000 - at one stage we had 6,000 barristers. "But now we don't have enough people to do 24/7 courts, it would be impossible... asking people with families, people that are already on their knees, that we want even more from them." Image: Chair of the Criminal Bar Association, Tana Adkin KC. Pic: CBA And it isn't just about the barristers and the judges, the KC said. "It is the court staff, it's security staff, it is everybody being expected to do longer and longer hours for no extra pay or reward. "And because we have been beaten down for so long, all you would do is be driving more people away." She added: "It is not about playing a game of chess. It is about investing in human beings." https://lnkd.in/eEB4dM4i
Deputy Head of Chambers at 15 NBS Chambers, Former Chair of the Criminal Bar Association
Why should protesters get priority in our courts and go to the front of the backlog queue? 24/7 courts are unworkable when we don’t have enough people to prosecute and defend in normal operating hours. Sustained investment is what’s needed, in our Ceiminal Justice System and in the people who work in it. https://lnkd.in/eHnKf3zV