Criminal Justice System Strategic Plan 2008-2011
Since 2002, the organisations and agencies that make up the CJS have worked collaboratively to provide a more joined-up CJS that puts the law-abiding majority and victims first. Over the past three years frontline staff have brought more offences to justice, worked to increase public confidence and improved services for victims. The Strategic Plan for 2008-2011 aims to build on these achievements and provides a vision for how the Criminal Justice System will continue to build on these successes.
Title: Criminal Justice System Strategic Plan 2008-2011
Author: Office of Criminal Justice Reform
Number of pages: 60 (full document) or 16 (summary)
Date published: November 2007
Availability: Download full report 
PDF 3.4Mb LARGE FILE!. Download summary PDF 566Kb
This plan sets out how the agencies of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) in England and Wales will work together to build on the successful delivery of the commitments set out in their 2004-08 Strategic Plan and deliver a justice system which:
- is effective in bringing offences to justice, especially serious offences
- engages the public and inspires confidence
- puts the needs of victims at its heart
- has simple and efficient processes.
To achieve this, criminal justice services – police, prosecution, courts, probation, prison and youth justice services – will need to work more closely together through their Local Criminal Justice Boards (LCJBs) and other local partnerships to deliver efficient and effective criminal justice services. This will also support the Government’s wider crime reduction and re-offending strategies to make communities safer, as set out in the new Crime Strategy: Cutting Crime – A New Partnership 2008-2011 , published in July 2007.
The Criminal Justice System supports this wider agenda through efficient services that
- make best use of resources, expertise and technology, the Criminal Justice System can free up the police to tackle crime and reduce fear of crime through visible policing.
- help to increase the satisfaction of users of the Criminal Justice System, especially victims and witnesses and therefore confidence of local communities more widely.
- enable criminal justice agencies to be more effective in processing the more serious cases by freeing up the capacity to give the more complex cases and intractable problems the time they need.
Effective in bringing offences to justice
By 2011 the Government will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Criminal Justice System in bringing offences to justice, especially serious offences; and the enforcement of the orders of the court including doubling the amount of assets from crime that we recover.
Focus of action for LCJBs
LCJBs will produce plans setting out how they will support delivery of the Crime Strategy, particularly in relation to specific serious offences and locally-identified priorities. They will support offender management, including working with prolific offenders to reduce the risk of re-offending, and build a more consistent and locally-driven approach focusing LCJBs and local authority partnerships on the priority needs of their areas.
Nationally driven programmes
National measures to tackle serious offences and prolific offending and support regional and local partnerships to tackle crime and reduce re-offending and raise public confidence include:
- new violent crime action plan, including: measures to tackle the specific problem of violent gangs in some areas; and robust management of the most dangerous offenders through the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)
- new performance measures to improve rape investigation and prosecution, supported by national training, specialist police and prosecutors and more support for victims of sexual violence
- more effective measures to address youth offending
- problem solving courts on topics such as domestic violence and on drugs
- aligning the approach to persistent young offenders to the Prolific and other Priority Offender (PPO) programme
- joint working with Department of Health to tackle mental health issues
- partnership approach to reducing reoffending and reintegrating ex-offenders
- a co-ordinated approach to the enforcement of the orders of the court
- a robust asset recovery system taking the profit out of crime
- a new national anti-fraud strategy.
The public confident and engaged
By 2011 the Government will improve public confidence in the fairness and effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System. It will also identify and address race disproportionality at key stages in the criminal justice process. This target will be supported by local indicators for LCJBs on confidence and community engagement.
Focus of action for LCJBs
LCJBs will work with local authority partnerships – Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) and, in Wales, Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) – to support the Crime Strategy’s aim of reducing crime, re-offending and anti-social behaviour. A single, integrated process of community consultation and feedback will be shared between LCJBs and CDRPs/CSPs through common surveys; shared local targets and an integrated planning process.
LCJBs will be asked to develop plans to tackle race disproportionality. The Government is providing more robust and accurate data, enabling CJS agencies and LCJBs to assess progress and respond to local needs, including indicators to monitor the proportions of people from different ethnic groups at key stages of the CJS. This will enable LCJBs to identify areas of disproportionality and explore why it may be occurring and take appropriate action.
Nationally driven programmes
An overarching Criminal Justice Community Engagement Strategy will bring together the programmes of each criminal justice agency:
- national rollout of neighbourhood policing to raise confidence by tackling crime and antisocial behaviour. This will be supported with closer joint working between police and youth justice services. A Neighbourhood Policing Youth Toolkit is currently being assessed
- prosecution led community involvement panels
- national rollout of community justice approach developed in Liverpool and Salford
- the breakthrough programme: measures to improve performance and accountability of the courts
- encouraging engagement through community payback and local alliances to drive down re-offending.
This will be supported by communications programmes including national campaigns, the Justice Awards and the Confidence Challenge Fund and specific measures to reach out to all, particularly ethnic minorities and tackle hate crime.
The needs of victims at its heart
By 2011 the Government will improve victim satisfaction with the police and victim and witness satisfaction with the Criminal Justice System.
Focus of action for LCJBs
The Victims’ Code, Witness Charter and Prosecutor’s Pledge have set standards for service for victims and witnesses, and Witness Care Units provide a single point of contact for support. From November 2006, all police forces have been required to meet service standards set out in the Quality of Service Commitment. This includes improving ease of contact with the police, keeping victims informed of progress and engaging with communities. The Victim and Witness Experience Survey (WAVES) give LCJBs detailed local performance data on how satisfied victims and witnesses are with all aspects of the Criminal Justice System. Government will look to improve how victims make their voice heard at local level.
Nationally driven programmes
The following measures will support LCJBs to meet the needs of all victims and witnesses and give victims a voice in the system:
- strengthen measures to give victims a voice in the Criminal Justice System through the Victims’ Advocate Scheme and the Crown Prosecution Service Victim Focus Scheme
- enhance services to vulnerable or intimidated witnesses and those with special needs, especially victims of the most serious crimes
- strengthen links between the voluntary sector and the Criminal Justice System and divert money from offenders to voluntary sector services through the Victims’ Surcharge
- make the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme more customer-focused and continue to develop opportunities for offenders to make amends and pay reparation to their victims and communities.
Simple, efficient processes
By 2011 we will improve the efficiency of the Criminal Justice System in bringing offences to justice; supported with a target to reduce police bureaucracy in response to the Flanagan review of policing.
Focus of action for LCJBs
The Government will develop simpler, more efficient criminal justice processes by giving LCJBs the tools, targets, flexibility and support needed to develop local programmes of continuous improvement. LCJBs will become the key drivers of cross-cutting criminal justice reform, supported nationally by the National Criminal Justice Board (NCJB). Beacon LCJBs are developing a co-ordinated approach to current change programmes such as the Criminal Justice Simple, Speedy Summary reforms (CJSSS), Conditional Cautions and simplifying case file preparation. Criminal justice processes will be streamlined and police bureaucracy reduced through these processes.
Nationally driven programmes
Current national programmes which will be incorporated into this co-ordinated programme of LCJB-led reform include:
- technology improvements to free up police time such as hand held computers enabling officers to log crimes on the spot rather than fill in forms
- postal charging to reduce the administration of lower risk cases
- streamlined case file preparation for magistrates’ court cases including looking at issues such as disclosure and advance information
- national rollout of the CJSSS reforms to reduce delay and unnecessary adjournments at court and introduction of a similar programme in the youth court
- a legal aid reform programme to focus on performance and outputs and reduce delay
- technology to modernise criminal justice processes such as video links and a programme to facilitate electronic preparation and presentation of evidence
- measures to handle low risk, uncontested cases out of court such as Penalty Notices for Disorder and the Conditional Caution.
National framework, local delivery
Building on the national framework provided by our criminal justice targets and this plan, LCJBs will develop local plans setting out how they will deliver these targets and support delivery of the wider Crime Strategy.
Focus of action for LCJBs
Local boards will work increasingly closely with CDRPs and, in Wales, CSPs to understand the needs and priorities of their area, drawing up plans to deliver criminal justice services aligned to local needs, supported with improved performance data and capacity planning tools provided by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR).
Nationally driven programmes
NCJB will work closely with the new National Crime Reduction Board (NCRB) and the National Policing Board (NPB) to coordinate the crime, criminal justice and reducing re-offending strategies. These arrangements are supported by specific groups led at ministerial level, including reducing re-offending. Together these boards will co-ordinate the work of government departments to deliver the wider crime and community safety targets, review overall progress and agree action to address risks to delivery. NCJB sets the high level vision and targets for the Criminal Justice System with LCJBs increasingly responsible for designing and delivering the programme needed to realise that vision. Some national programmes will continue to be driven forwards, notably in technology to support criminal justice reform, and setting and monitoring national standards for systems and services. However increasingly Government will work by providing the broad principles, including guidance and best practice examples, within which areas develop their approach to meet local circumstances and priorities. They will encourage innovation and feedback from local areas to identify best practice.
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Last update: Wednesday, November 21, 2007