Every Crown Court in England and Wales will get a dedicated courtroom for rape and serious sexual offence cases, the government has announced, backed by a multi-million-pound budget to adapt courthouses for the purpose.
The plan includes separate private entrances and waiting areas for victims so they don’t have to share space with other court users, along with special training for judges and court staff. Rape trials will be given fixed dates rather than left to sit on the general waiting list with other criminal cases.
The move responds to a court backlog that has left victims waiting more than a year, on average, for their cases to be heard. According to The Times, a rape case takes an average of 424 days to complete once it reaches the Crown Court. Years of underinvestment, longer and more complex trials, and rising prosecution rates have all driven wait times up. Critics warn the delays discourage victims from coming forward at all, and in some cases push them to withdraw cases out of sheer exhaustion with the process.
Six dedicated rape courts will open in 2027, with every Crown Court in England and Wales set to have one within two years.
The Backlog Isn’t Going Anywhere
The funding pays for converting existing courtrooms, not for adding new courts or extra sitting time. That means the total capacity of the system stays the same. Rape and serious sexual offence cases will simply jump the queue, pushing other types of crime further down the list. The overall backlog in England and Wales is not expected to meaningfully shrink.
Alternatives that could actually add capacity, such as opening more courts more often or running 24-hour sittings, would cost significantly more money. The government has chosen not to pursue them.
Juries Still on the Chopping Block
The announcement lands better than Labour’s previous headline fix for court delays, which was to strip the right to a jury trial from a large share of defendants.
Conservative justice spokesman Nick Timothy welcomed the new courts but said they don’t go far enough, and pressed the government on why it is still targeting jury trials if it can find money to speed up rape cases.
“Tackling the delays in criminal rape trials is long overdue. The fact that victims have been withdrawing their cases because they have taken too long has been a disgrace. However, rape trial delays have been used by Labour as their main justification for their attack on juries. If resources can be found to accelerate rape trials, why are they persisting in their attack on this ancient right to jury trials? Labour need to get courts sitting throughout the year, end the delays and clear the backlog – not undermine our right to a trial by jury.”
