Recent figures show the numbers of people in prison awaiting trial are now at record levels, making up 13% of the overall prison population. This overuse of pre-trial detention is a key driver of the prison capacity crisis, intensifying pressure on a dangerously overcrowded system, argues JUSTICE’s new report.

JUSTICE previously found evidence showing people are being imprisoned awaiting trial without proper legal reasons given for the decision to hold them. Today’s report outlines urgent reforms to address these problems. Magistrates’ Courts are key to this issue, since they make most of these pre-trial detention decisions.

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Unequal impacts

Women and people from racialised communities are disproportionately affected by the overuse of ‘remand’ (pre-trial and pre-sentencing detention):

• The number of women on remand has surged by 22% since June 2024.
• Women on remand face severe risks, accounting for 38% of all self-harm incidents in the remand population despite representing only 5% of those held.
• Individuals from racialised backgrounds make up 32% of the remand population, compared with 26% of the sentenced prison population.
• Previous JUSTICE data showed non case specific factors such as nationality, or appearance in a secure dock affect magistrates’ courts decisions about bail.

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How to safely reverse this trend

JUSTICE’s new report outlines urgent reforms to address problems with how magistrates’ courts decide whether to send people to prison to await trial.

 Drawing on evidence from more than 35 experts and stakeholders – including lawyers, magistrates, academics, and others with experience in the magistrates’ courts the report provides a clear blueprint for reducing unnecessary custodial remand, tackling inequities, and ensuring fairer, more consistent decision-making across the courts.

This includes recommendations to increase the diversity of magistrates, structured guidance to promote lawful decision-making, better training and appraisals of decision-makers, and recommendations to ensure sending people to prison to await trial is treated as a last resort.

The quality of magistrates’ decision making will be of even greater importance when new government plans come into effect to send more cases to magistrates’ courts and give magistrates greater sentencing powers.

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Expert perspectives

Emma Snell, Legal Policy Manager from JUSTICE, says: “Our backfiring prisons need less people, not more, and people awaiting trial need not be locked up as often as they currently are.

"Magistrates’ courts make nearly all the decisions fueling this overuse of pre-trial prison stays – and under new government plans they will soon be making even more life changing decisions. The quality of their decision-making is therefore key

“A better trained magistracy that reflects the diversity of the people they serve could both help ease the prison crisis and promote public trust.”        

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Responding to the report, Tom Franklin, Chief Executive of the Magistrates’ Association, says: “Remand hearings are among the most complex and pressured decisions made in court. When they make a remand decision, a magistrate must weigh multiple statutory considerations, often at pace, and with limited information. This latest report from JUSTICE raises some very important questions, and we will consider it very closely.

“Our shared goal is to ensure remand is used effectively, and only where necessary. So, we welcome recommendations in the report that support magistrates in their remand decisions, such as clearer communication with defendants and building confidence in alternatives to remand. At the same time, remand must remain available to protect the public in genuinely risky cases. 

“There are also wider system pressures. Shortages of legal advisers, increasing case backlogs, and the rising number of unrepresented defendants, all shape the environment in which decisions are made. Until these pressures are addressed, remand hearings will remain under strain. Magistrates are the most diverse part of the judiciary, but we acknowledge that there is more to do to ensure benches even better reflect the communities they serve.”

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Read the full report

Click here to read the report in full.

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