The Law Society of NSW welcomes the NSW Government's $8.5 million funding for two trial courts at the Downing Centre in Sydney and for a State Parole Authority hearing room at the Sydney West Trial Courts in Parramatta.

"This money is urgently needed and will have a positive impact on present delays in the District Court," The Law Society of NSW President Pauline Wright said. "Our trial courts are struggling to keep up with severe backlogs and delays that have built up in the past four years."

Insufficient judicial officers and resourcing for the courts has contributed to severe backlogs in matters committed for trial and for sentence while the numbers of defendants who have been refused bail and those serving a prison sentence have also risen.

"Our prisons are clogged to capacity and victims of crime and accused persons are facing much longer periods for cases to be resolved," Ms Wright said.  "This adds stress to an already fraught process for victims of crime and their families, and for people being held in prison waiting for their trials.  Where people are refused bail and ultimately found not guilty, delays can mean real injustice." 

Meanwhile court closures and reductions in sitting arrangements in rural and regional areas are impeding access to justice for some of the most disadvantaged people in our community including the elderly, sick, unemployed, disabled and Indigenous Australians.

"We need a long term funding solution to ensure that people in rural and regional areas have equal access to courts and legal services as other citizens." 

The Law Society acknowledges that one of the aims of the NSW Government's recent $200 million investment into criminal justice reforms is to improve the operation of the criminal justice system. 

However, Ms Wright said there was also concern that proposed reforms to disclosure requirements and the abolition of committals could exacerbate delays and further increase the number of trials as well as reduce early guilty pleas.

"More community-based sentencing options and alternatives to full time imprisonment including supervised bonds, intensive correction orders and home detention could help to reduce our record high prison numbers and reoffending," Ms Wright said.