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The backlog in crown courts in England<\/a> and Wales could hit 100,000 unless radical action is taken to overhaul the criminal justice system, a watchdog has said.<\/p>\n Anthony Rogers, the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service<\/a> (CPS) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said prosecutors\u2019 caseloads were already beyond what had been seen before and he feared the situation could deteriorate.<\/p>\n He said the current backlog in crown courts, which try the most serious criminal offences, was 71,000 and CPS prosecutors were working with caseloads of \u201cwell in excess of 100 and in some places, coming towards 200 cases per prosecutor\u201d. In 2016, once a caseload surpassed 80 it \u201cbecame a problem\u201d, said Rogers.<\/p>\n Speaking as his annual report was published, Rogers said that while the increase in funding for justice announced in the budget \u2013 an average real-terms increase of 5.6% each year from 2023-24 to 2025-26 \u2013 was welcome, it would not solve the crisis.<\/p>\n Rogers said: \u201cIt\u2019s more about thinking fundamentally about how cases are dealt with in the crown court, whether cases need to go to the crown court, whether some of the longstanding principles of justice can be altered.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are other types of crime that go to crown court that will be probably better dealt with more quickly in the interests of victims and defendants in the magistrates\u2019 court. Very radical.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a government action that is radical but they\u2019re the sort of things I\u2019m talking about. Should we have judge-only trials? Absolutely radical. But without that sort of radical action, I\u2019m predicting that 71,000 will reach 100,000 eventually, soon. I can\u2019t see what\u2019s going to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n The government has already enabled magistrates to try more offences by doubling the jail terms they can impose<\/a> from the current maximum of six months, although the move has been criticised by barristers. Moves to have judge-only trials would likely prove even more controversial.<\/p>\n Rogers said that the sentencing review<\/a> announced last week by the government is welcome but \u201cnot going to happen quickly\u201d. In the meantime, \u201cvictims every day are being let down as the backlog increases\u201d and pulling out of one in three crown court trials, he claimed.<\/p>\n In a letter to the attorney general, Rogers highlighted how the high numbers of prisoners (17,662) on remand \u2013 people awaiting trial or sentencing who account for 20% of the prison population \u2013 increased the burden on the CPS of managing cases with time limits.<\/p>\n