More than 150 criminal cases have been delayed for two years or longer in Thames Valley, new figures have revealed.
These delays in criminal justice have been condemned as "unacceptable" by legal charities.
Criminal courts have faced mounting pressures in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which saw trials put on hold during lockdowns.
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Figures from the Ministry of Justice show 172 criminal cases had been unresolved for two years or more in Thames Valley as of March 2023.
For comparison, 106 cases had been outstanding for two years or longer at the same point in 2022, while 11 had done so as of March 2019.
The most common type of offence involving a long wait was for violence against the person, which was responsible for 34 cases.
"The figures show that more people – the accused, victims, defendants and their families – are waiting to see justice and are left to cope with unresolved cases hanging over them for years," said Law Society president Lubna Shuja.
"We’ve been saying these delays are unacceptable, but it is only getting worse.
"The government needs to act now and invest in a properly functioning system if we are to tackle the court delays."
Across England and Wales there were more than 62,000 incomplete cases – including 1,922 in Thames Valley.
Ms Shuja added it was unlikely the government would hit its "meagre" target of reducing this backlog to 53,000 by March 2025.
She urged for investment across the justice system to cut down the number of long waits.
In Thames Valley, the average waiting time across unresolved cases was 178 days.
Nationally, 6,073 cases were facing two-year delays – a significant rise from 3,949 the year before, and nearly ten times the 626 as of March 2019.
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In June, the House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee warned key court reforms – aimed at speeding up the time cases can be processed – had been delayed significantly.
It warned these setbacks were undermining public confidence in the justice system.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "We are doing all we can to reduce the outstanding caseload in the Crown Court, including lifting the cap on the number of days courts can sit and recruiting more judges to help restore the swift access to justice victims deserve."
Thames Valley Police serve Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
Cases in Oxfordshire are dealt with either at Oxford Crown Court or Oxford Magistrates' Court.
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