Posted on 06 January 2026
Criminal barristers have warned that the justice system in England and Wales is edging towards collapse. With a backlog of 79,000 criminal cases and deteriorating buildings, severe delays are sometimes leaving victims and defendants facing years of uncertainty. Meanwhile, unmanageable workloads are driving many barristers out of the profession, with one in three criminal barristers looking to quit, according to data from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA).