The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Criminal Justice System – a progress report

Published on: 17 May 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic and high infection rates continue to have a major impact across the Criminal Justice System (CJS) in England and Wales.

In January 2021, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, HM Inspectorate of Probation, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and HM Inspectorate of Prisons conducted inspections of our respective agencies’ responses to COVID-19 and published ‘Impact of the pandemic on the Criminal Justice System’. It was based on our combined inspection findings over the previous year, when the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted services.

This report provides an update to our original report and is based on our combined inspection findings during 2021. The structure follows the flow of work through the CJS from policing to prisons. It sets out findings from our inspections, as well as cross-cutting themes, and highlights the successes of the CJS, but also the challenges that it has faced and still faces.

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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Criminal Justice System – a progress report

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Criminal Justice System pandemic recovery “remains elusive” – new report on impact of COVID-19