Broadcasters to be able to film judgments, says Justice Secretary

Broadcasters will be allowed to screen footage of judgments for the first time, the Justice Secretary has announced.

Broadcasting in court is currently prohibited by Section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925 and Section 9 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981. Primary legislation will be required to bring in the new regime.

According to the Ministry of Justice, filming will be limited to judges’ summary remarks only. Victims, witnesses, offenders and jurors will not be filmed.

Kenneth Clarke said: “The government and judiciary are determined to improve transparency and public understanding of court through allowing court broadcasting. We believe television has a role in increasing public confidence in the justice system.”

The MoJ said that broadcasting would initially be allowed from the Court of Appeal, with the government looking to extend the arrangements to the Crown Court later. It added that all changes would be worked out in consultation with the judiciary.

The Justice Secretary also unveiled plans to publish “an unprecedented level of information about the performance of courts”. This is to include:

• Court-by-court statistics for the time taken for cases to be processed, from offence to conviction, “allowing people to compare the performance of their local courts”
• Details on how many trials were ineffective and why they were ineffective
• Anonymised data on each case heard at local courts and the sentences given
• Details of how many people have been convicted or released from prisons in each area and how often they re-offended afterwards
• From May 2011 justice outcomes will be placed alongside crime data on police.uk “so people can see what happens next after crimes are committed in their areas”
• More information on how the civil and family justice systems, “including how long it takes each court to process small claims hearings, larger cases and care proceedings”

A spokesperson for the Judicial Office said: "The Lord Chief Justice is aware of the government's intentions and will work with them to ensure that any changes to the current position safeguard all parties in a case and will not affect the administration of justice."