An open approach to justice data
The Magistrates’ Association has warned that a lack of accessible, useable justice data in England and Wales is undermining public confidence in justice and causing policy decisions to be made without full evidence.
In its new (1 July 2026) report ‘Open Data in the Justice System’, the Magistrates’ Association has urged government and justice agencies to shift towards a more open, joined-up approach, where data is easier to find, access and use, information can be linked across the whole system, and publication and access are the default, not the exception. It says that such an approach would not only strengthen evidence-based policymaking, but also improve transparency and public trust.
The context
The MA starts by setting out a picture of the current data system which is confused and confusing. It lists the large number of Government and non-government agencies and departments which collect justice data including:
- The Ministry of Justice (quarterly statistics on case backlogs and the operation of the courts);
- The Home Office (official statistics for crime and policing;
- The Office for National Statistics (datasets on crime types, demographics, and public attitudes);
- The Crown Prosecution Service (quarterly operational management information);
- The HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) (they collect and provide data on court operations, case volumes, outcomes, etc);
- HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS);
- The Legal Aid Agency;
- The Sentencing Council.
These are in addition to local authorities, devolved governments, even NHS England and a range of Third Sector and research organisations.
The problems of the current situation
The MA report uses the example of a 2023 report from the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, on domestic abuse and how it’s handled in the Family Court, which was forced to rely on roundtables, a correspondence review, a survey of legal practitioners, and even two-year old surveys produced by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme to form its recommendations. If justice data had been more easily accessible and joined-up, the report argues, the Commissioner might have been able to used more relevant and reliable data.
It is difficult to track a single case from arrest to sentence, let alone following that through in examples where someone receives a prison sentence and is then supervised on release by the probation service.
The lack of transparency and accessibility of this data is the MA’s main complaint. They summarise the opacity of the current system via the chart that I have reproduced below.
Recommendations
The Magistrates’ Association has made eight recommendations towards ensuring a more open approach:
- Data creators and publishers to adopt an open data approach to the collection, production and publication of data relating to the justice system in England and Wales.
- The Transparency and Open Justice Board to include openness of data in its key objectives.
- Parliament to create a presumption of publication for justice system data
- Parliament to create a presumption of access for justice system data
- The MoJ and Senior Judiciary to promote a joined-up approach to the collection and production of data across the justice system
- Data publishers to improve data discoverability
- The MoJ to continue to promote the use of linked data across the justice system
- The MoJ to create an independent inspector to conduct and publish an annual review of data practices within the justice system to promote the earlier recommendations.
Thanks to Andy Aitchison for kind permission to use the header image in this post. You can see Andy’s work here
