More trauma for rape victims as court backlog doubles in two years due to lawyer shortage

Court backlogs for rape prosecutions have soared to a record high, with the number of cases doubling in two years and victims facing “devastating” waits for justice.

Data from the Ministry of Justice shows 1,379 adult rape cases were stuck in the court backlog in the last quarter of 2021 but the number surged to 2,786 in the last quarter of 2023.

A victim support charity warned that court delays mean rape victims are being made “to live indefinitely” with “uncertainty and anguish”.

The number of adult rape cases stuck in the logjam has increased by almost five times in just over half a decade – up from 568 cases in the first quarter of 2019.

Experts blamed the court backlog on a “chronic” shortage of lawyers specialising in serious sexual offences, as well as issues dating back to the Covid pandemic.

They warned rape victims are being informed their case has been postponed at the eleventh hour – sometimes arriving at court only to be turned away.

Government data shows almost two in 10 adult rape cases were rearranged on the day of the trial between October and December last year.

The number of rape and serious sexual offences trials adjourned because of a lack of prosecution or defence barrister has surged more than tenfold since 2019.

Shabana Mahmood, the shadow justice secretary, said: “It is a stain on this government’s record that the victims of these awful crimes are waiting so long to see justice done.

“Thanks to 14 years of Tory chaos, we are seeing record delays in the courts and 60 per cent of rape victims are dropping out. For too many, justice delayed has become justice denied. Labour will be the government that changes this.”

Harriet Wistrich, director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, said the charity is witnessing “many horrifying stories of delays” for rape victims.

“In one case, the trial was delayed again for another year and in the meantime, the defendant died,” she said.

“In another case where the trial was due to commence in October 2023, it was adjourned until June 2025. The impact on women who have been waiting so long is devastating and we are aware of at least one attempted suicide.”

Ms Wistrich, an award-winning human rights lawyer, warned the chronic underfunding and “extremely low rates of pay” for legal aid work means there is a “massive shortage of lawyers willing to either prosecute or defend such cases”, adding that this could be helped by government funding.

Research by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) found that the number of adult rape cases concluded in 2023 was 30 per cent lower than the number of new cases started. By contrast, in 2016, the number of cases finished was four per cent higher than the number of new cases.

Data from the Ministry of Justice shows the court backlog for adult rape cases grew by 730 cases in 2023 – a 36 per cent growth, which was a higher rise than that seen for any other offence.

Ciara Bergman, chief executive for Rape Crisis England and Wales, said: “The unacceptable shortage of appropriate legal representatives has a devastating impact on victims and survivors, who are forced to live – indefinitely – with all the uncertainty and anguish that court delays create.”

She called for a government strategy to retain barristers, adding: “Coming forward, naming what has happened to you, and placing trust in the criminal justice system takes enormous courage, and yet survivors are routinely and overwhelmingly let down.”

Research by the CBA, which surveyed 780 criminal barristers, found almost two-thirds of prosecutors said they would not be reapplying to be on the rape and serious sexual offences list. 

The organisation’s latest figures show that cases with a bailed defendant take an average of 18 months to complete, 80 per cent longer than five years ago. Communications director James Rossiter said this is likely to become a two-year wait as trial dates are now routinely being given for summer 2026.

He said: “There is a chronic shortage of suitably qualified prosecutors to handle rape and serious sexual offence cases which has worsened significantly in the last 18 months.

“The overall pool of around 2,400 specialist criminal barristers is around a fifth smaller than seven years ago and that has had a huge impact on those few left who specialise in sexual offence cases.”

He said the government’s rape review action plan put forward “laudable targets” to increase the number of rape cases coming to court back to 2016 levels but that the review failed to include any target for how long it would take for cases to conclude.

The Ministry of Justice said it was unable to comment due to the pre-election period.