Administration of justice offences

The administration of justice offences in England and Wales encompass a range of criminal activities that interfere with the judicial process. Key offences include breaching reporting restrictions, contempt of court, perverting the course of justice and perjury.

Breaching reporting restrictions in criminal cases

There is a principle of open justice which applies to criminal proceedings. When a criminal case is listed for hearing in public, the application of the open justice principle means that a court officer must publish certain information where it is available, unless the publication is prohibited by a reporting restriction. This is provided for in the Criminal Procedure Rules 2020, SI 2020/759 (CrimPR).

The CrimPR also make provision for the public or media to request access to particular information held on file by the criminal courts in England and Wales in accordance with the open justice principle. See Practice Note: Access to information held in criminal court records, which explains the type of information that can be accessed by a non-party or a party affected by the case and also explains when the court’s permission

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