Performance Tracker 2026: Criminal justice system
Think tank: Institute for Government
Author(s): Cassia Rowland
October 12, 2026
This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government gives an overview of and makes recommendations for the criminal justice system.
When the Starmer government took office in July 2024, it inherited a criminal justice system in England and Wales that was fundamentally unable to cope with the level of demand it faced. Nowhere was this more visible or more acute than in prisons, which were at the point of total shutdown due to a lack of spaces.
The Starmer government launched major reform programmes across policing, criminal courts and sentencing to try to address these linked capacity crises and so improve performance. But the programmes had mixed results, and some of them might have been more effective if they had been launched sooner after the government took office.
Restoring the criminal justice system to order is likely to require further politically difficult decisions, whether that is restructuring police forces, spending more on legal aid or investing in community provision for offenders. Burnham’s broad agenda for more devolution in public services may help reduce demand and improve outcomes for the criminal justice system in the long term. But it will not let him avoid further political pain in the coming months and years.
