England: Leaked report reveals judges’ concern over increase in unrepresented defendants

The website has obtained a full 36-page report based on 2015 research into the impact on the criminal justice system of the increase in those appearing in court without a lawyer.

It was commissioned by the UK government to review the impact of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012, which reformed legal aid in England and Wales.

As part of the study, in-depth interviews were held with 15 Crown Court judges and six prosecutors.

The report states: “The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) estimated that between 200-300 Crown Court defendants per year would be excluded from criminal legal aid funding due to this change. It was anticipated that this would lead to more people paying their own court costs and that this increase would represent a relatively small proportion of cases in the Crown Court.

“However, feedback from judicial stakeholders has suggested that since this legal aid change, they believe unrepresented defendant numbers have increased and this is disproportionately reducing the efficiency of the courts.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: “Over 99 per cent of applications for Crown Court legal aid are granted, and this hasn’t changed following the reforms. We will this year review all the changes made to legal aid in 2012 under LASPO – including criminal legal aid.”