Keele Research Repository

Against the background of financial cuts this thesis examines the effects of the measures pursued by the government to improve the efficiency of the English criminal courts and the English and Welsh Criminal Justice System (EWCJS). An initial examination of governmental, ministerial, and departmental publications was pursued to understand what concepts of efficiency the government and its agencies were employing in the quest to attain greater efficiency. The thesis attempts to establish how successful the efficiency programmes have been to date, by in depth questioning of legal practitioners who have direct, first-hand experience of those programmes in action. Like the curates egg, the government’s pursuit of efficiency has been good in parts, according to its own criteria of success. However, the efficiency measures have proved to be detrimental to the maintenance of other important values and aims of the legal system, such as justice and fair process.