The problem with Burnham’s specialist rape courts pledge

The meltdown in the criminal justice system has been particularly egregious for victims of rape and sexual violence. They have been forced to wait years for their cases to come to trial, which means they have very little prospect of being able to recover fully from the trauma in the meantime. Their memories are also affected by the passing of time, which doesn’t serve them or the wider principle of justice at all, given it undermines the quality of the evidence being heard when the case does eventually reach a court room. 

This is why ministers have announced that they are rolling out specialist courts for rape and sexual offences in England and Wales in an attempt to tackle the backlog for these particular offences. Every crown court should have at least one room dedicated to hearing these cases within the next two years, with staff receiving ‘trauma-informed training’, and complainants offered private entrances so that they can remain as anonymous as possible and have a better chance of not seeing the defendant. Trials will also be given a fixed date, rather than staying on floating lists.

The reaction from campaigners underlines that this isn’t just about a backlog in cases, but also a backlog in policies to enable the government to meet its always ambitious 2024 pledge of halving violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade. Keir Starmer spoke often about this pledge, but did little – and we were given a behind-the-scenes glimpse into some of the ministerial frustration around this when Jess Phillips resigned from government, alleging that she’d used the furore over Lord Mandelson as leverage to get at least some policies through the system quicker. By that point, though, Phillips was herself struggling to maintain credibility in the VAWG sector, which had grown frustrated that someone they regarded as cut from their own cloth seemed to be making so little headway in government. So this announcement is an attempt by Andy Burnham’s government to show that it is getting on with actually doing things. And it’s had a warm welcome, albeit with figures like Ciara Bergman from Rape Crisis saying her organisation has ‘been raising for years’ the issues ministers are trying to address today. 

The problem is that two years is both quite a long time and probably not enough time. In terms of policy implementation, Burnham is asking a lot of the courts service, which is in a state, and of police forces, which might be able to set up the specialist units he wants but which will then find that they are constantly having to move officers onto other duties due to shortages.

He is also still apparently toying with an early election, which is just the sort of political upheaval that means little policy making and even less implementation. Mind you, Starmer had the mandate and the time, and he never got round to even announcing these changes. But one of the many problems with today’s political culture is that mere announcements are mistaken for real change. And Burnham has definitely not had enough time yet to claim the latter.