Crest Webinar: Keeping Offenders Out of Court - Is the System Working?
Channel: Crest Advisory
Date: 2022-01-20

This webinar marked the launch of a new report from Crest Advisory on the use of out-of-court disposals and diversion programmes.

The session, chaired by Danny Shaw, included guest speakers:

Penelope Gibbs - Director of Transform Justice
 
Former Chief Constable Peter Neyroud - Director of Senior Leader Masters Degree Apprentice Institute of Criminology, Cambridge

Detective Chief Inspector Jason Kew, Thames Valley Police, Innovation Practice Officer at the Centre for Justice Innovation 

Background

The impact of Covid-19 on the criminal justice system in England and Wales has sparked calls to find better ways of dealing with offenders and reducing the flow of cases through the courts.

Crest’s prior research in this area suggests that without an intervention, the court backlog – defined as all cases waiting to be processed in the courts – will rapidly increase and reach an unmanageable level by 2024.
Our research

This research, funded by the Hadley Trust, has investigated how police forces use out-of-court disposals and diversion, including conducting an in depth study in Thames Valley Police.  

The report will also include findings from a national poll looking at public perceptions on out-of-court disposals and diversion.