A NEW initiative to speed up the court system and reduce people's fear of crime has been launched in Worcester.

The newly-formed Criminal Justice Board is made up of top officials from the Crown Prosecution Service, the police, the courts, probation, prisons and the youth offending service.

It will replace the old Area Strategy Committees, in which the same organisations met but often worked to their own conflicting objectives, said Jim England, Chief Crown Prosecutor and the first chairman of the board.

"For example, the approach of the courts is to keep the court rooms as busy as possible, but there has been no similar emphasis to make sure there is best practice in terms of hearings being successful and moving things along," said Mr England.

Now all the organisations will be working in unison to achieve the same objectives, the first of which is to increase the number of offenders brought to justice by five per cent.

The Government target has been set down for all 42 Criminal Justice Boards in the country and in West Mercia it would mean to 1,122 more convictions in 2003 to 2004.

"Our key aim is narrowing the justice gap, which is the difference between the number of crimes reported to the police and those ultimately brought to justice," he added.

He added that West Mercia is in a good position to achieve these targets because the organisations had a history of working together and cited the example of the area achieving its persistent young offenders conviction targets ahead of time.

"The other aim of the Community Justice Board is to provide a better service for victims and witnesses," said Mr England.

The board will begin its monthly meetings on Tuesday, April 1.

"I have no hesitation in saying my personal belief is the West Mercia area is well equipped as an authority to succeed," said Nick Jones, justices chief executive for the Magistrates Court Service, who will also sit on the board.

At the launch at Hindlip Hall, reports were given by members of the board and a Who Wants to be a Millionaire-style electronic voting system was used to record feedback from the audience.

One question posed to the audience was how often and in what form public consultation should take place. Sixty one per cent voted for quarterly meetings.