Tackling backlog with pop-up café courts, former appeal judge suggests

Other options include libraries, churches and grocery stores

Pop-up courts should be set up in some unlikely places to restore confidence in the criminal justice system and tackle the huge backlog of cases, a former Court of Appeal judge has reportedly suggested.

Libraries, pubs, supermarkets, church halls and schools during the holidays have all been offered by Dame Anne Rafferty as locations for pop-up courts.

While the “big sell” would be “aligning the community with justice”, a “bonus point” would be a reduction in the significant backlog in the Crown Courts, which currently stands at 67,000 cases.

“Now is the time to do it,” the former judge said The times newspaper (£). “Covid has vastly improved IT and, more importantly, we are not burdened by the need to transport large volumes of documents to site and store them securely overnight. We use laptops and tablets.”

“The community can embrace justice and justice can position itself locally, as it always has and continues to do,” she continued.

“Possible locations: library, church hall, school during the holidays, café, disused newspaper building, supermarket with free space. Look for buildings that are used daily, but with some slack, or buildings that just stand there.”

Dame Anne Rafferty suggested a trial could be held with a coroner’s inquest, before being extended to other forms of hearing.

As well as using new venues, the Chancellor of the University of Sheffield said the local Women’s Institute could be encouraged to feed lawyers and families at the courts, with local colleges offering catering courses also on the list of potential suppliers.

However, it would not be the first time that a foreign location has been used for legal proceedings. In 2020, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service used an Odeon cinema in Edinburgh to host a socially distanced remote jury trial.