‘Blitz’ courts, AI transcription and prison vans in bus lanes among Deputy PM’s sweeping reforms
The Justice Secretary has a plan to drag the criminal court system into the 21st century, and it involves a lot of artificial intelligence (AI).
Speaking at the Microsoft AI Tour in London this week, Deputy PM David Lammy laid out his vision for a faster, fairer justice system, taking aim at a backlog he said had left victims waiting years for justice and a court system he described as “on the point of collapse” when Labour came to power.
Recalling a recent visit to the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto, Lammy described a courthouse that was “digital by design” and “purposefully paperless”, adding that walking through it he felt less like a visitor from another country and more like one from another time. “A vision of justice,” he said, “designed for the world as it is, not as it once was.”
On the technology side, the government plans to dramatically expand the use of AI across the courts, using it to transcribe hearings, anonymise material and summarise judgments. There will also be a new AI-assisted listing tool to replace the pen-and-paper scheduling system that still overseas when cases are heard, something Sir Brian Leveson had called for in his independent review of the criminal courts.
Lammy also confirmed the government is pressing ahead with a National Listing Framework, which will standardise how cases are scheduled across courts in England and Wales. For anyone who has followed the criminal justice debate closely, this is an attempt to end the so-called ‘postcode lottery’ that has long frustrated victims, particularly those waiting for serious cases like rape and sexual offences to be heard.
Then there are the ‘Blitz’ courts, where similar cases are bundled together and heard over a concentrated period, with the aim of securing earlier guilty pleas and avoiding the all-too-common last-minute collapse. From April, these courts in London will focus specifically on assaults on emergency workers, clearing cases that have been sitting in the system for years.
Rounding out the package are plans to expand case coordinators to all Crown Court centres, film more judges during sentencing to improve transparency, roll out more video hearings, and, in perhaps the most niche announcement of the day, work with local authorities to let prisoner vans use bus lanes.
The speech came alongside a funding announcement confirming criminal courts will be funded at their highest ever level next year, with no cap on Crown Court sitting days. For the first time, funding commitments have been locked in across a three-year period, giving the justice system what Lammy says is some much-needed long-term certainty.
Wrapping up, Lammy declared the government was “calling time” on the current system and promised to deliver “swifter outcomes that victims should be able to expect and have always deserved.”
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