Other options include libraries, churches and supermarkets
Pop-up courts should be set up in a range of unlikely places to restore faith in the criminal justice system and tackle the huge backlog in 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.
Whilst the “big sell” would be “lining up community with justice”, a “bonus point” would be a reduction in the sizeable backlog in the crown courts, currently sitting at 67,000 cases.
“This is the time to do it,” the former judge told The Times newspaper (£). “Covid has advanced IT massively and, more importantly, we are not troubled by vast amounts of documents having to be transported to the venue and locked up securely overnight. We use laptops and tablets.”
“The community can embrace justice and justice can position itself locally, as it always did and should still do,” she continued.
“Possible venues: library, church hall, school during the holidays, pub, disused newspaper building, supermarket with spare area. Look for buildings in daily use but with slack, or buildings just sitting there.”
A trial could be run with coroner’s inquests, Dame Anne Rafferty suggested, before being expanded to other forms of hearing.
Alongside the use of new locations, the Chancellor of the University of Sheffield said that 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.
This wouldn’t be the first time that an odd location was used for legal proceedings however. Back in 2020, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service used an Odeon cinema in Edinburgh to host a socially-distanced remote jury trial.