Independent Review of the Criminal Courts – 2025
Independent Review of the Criminal Courts – 2025
In June 2025, Sir Brian Leveson published Part I of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, commissioned by the Lord Chancellor to address the growing crisis in the criminal justice system of England and Wales.
Background and Purpose
As of December 2024, there were over 75,000 outstanding cases in the Crown Court, more than double the 2019 total. Trials were being listed as far ahead as 2029. The review was tasked with proposing policy reforms aimed at improving timeliness, efficiency, and fairness in the criminal courts. A second part of the review, focusing on operational efficiency, will be published later in 2025.
Key Causes of the Crisis
The review identifies three central causes:
Long-term resource constraints and lack of investment across the criminal justice system.
Increasing complexity in criminal law and procedure, including digital and forensic evidence.
Rising caseloads from 2019 onwards, compounded by COVID-19 and industrial action by the criminal bar.
Scope and Method
The review included 238 formal responses, 194 meetings, and extensive consultation with criminal justice stakeholders. The methodology also involved data analysis and modelling provided by the Ministry of Justice.
Recommendations Overview
Diversions
Expand the use of Out of Court Resolutions (OOCRs) to reduce court caseloads.
Encourage police and CPS to apply OOCRs retrospectively and consistently.
Invest in rehabilitation programmes and digital tools to support OOCR use.
Investigation and Charging
End Release Under Investigation (RUI) and favour bail with statutory oversight.
Improve communication between police and CPS to ensure accurate charging decisions.
Magistrates’ Courts
Remove the right to elect for Crown Court trial for certain low-level offences (max sentence ≤ 2 years).
Reclassify some either way offences as summary only.
Make the current 12-month sentencing limit permanent.
Introduce audio recordings for all magistrates’ hearings.
Appeals
Replace automatic appeals from magistrates' courts with a permission-based model.
Limit rehearings to the grounds for which permission is granted.
Early Engagement in the Crown Court
Encourage earlier guilty pleas with a revised discount structure (up to 40% at first hearing).
Expand Goodyear indications and reform legal aid fee schemes to support early engagement.
Crown Court Structure
Create a Crown Court (Bench Division) to try certain either way offences with a judge and two magistrates, without a jury.
Target 130,000 Crown Court sitting days per year (up from 110,000).
Expand judicial capacity through new appointments and flexible deployment.
Judge-Only Trials
Permit defendants to elect trial by judge alone with judicial approval.
Mandate judge-only trials for serious and complex fraud and exceptionally long or complex cases.
Disproportionality and Equality
The review highlights ongoing issues of disproportionality across the criminal justice system. It urges the government to conduct equality impact assessments and ensure fair application of all recommendations.
Conclusion
The report estimates that the core structural recommendations, if implemented, could save approximately 9,000 Crown Court sitting days per year. The review stresses that the criminal justice system requires fundamental reform, and that failure to act risks total system breakdown.
