Report reveals inefficient and judge-centred culture in Crown Courts

Report reveals inefficient and judge-centred culture in Crown Courts

An unprecedented report that exposes an inefficient and judge-centred culture in the Crown Court has been obtained by The Times after a three-year battle with officials determined to suppress it.

The report, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, highlights inefficiencies arising from the prevailing culture of the time that was based on ensuring that judges were not kept waiting. It also discloses inflexible sitting patterns, sometimes resulting from judges’ unwillingness to sit in an unpopular Crown Court — (courts are not named but could include Northampton, Woolwich or Birmingham) and inconsistency of approach, with some judges failing actively to manage cases.

Officials at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) have repeatedly refused to release the draft report, arguing that this would “undermine relations with the judiciary” and resisted its disclosure at every stage of the appeals process.

But Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has now ruled that the MoJ, the department charged with running Whitehall compliance on freedom of information, has itself breached the Act. In an embarrassing finding for the MoJ, he says that officials incorrectly withheld the information, as any potential prejudice that would arise was not sufficient to warrant an exemption from disclosure.

Kept a secret by the Justice Ministry, until now. How the judges ran the Crown Court (The Times, 18 March 2008)