Concerns are growing that those involved in the riots and looting of the past few days will get rough justice because of the speed with which they are being shunted through the judicial system amidst public and political desire for retribution.
Experts also have anxieties about the ability of an overcrowded prison system to cope with the influx.
So far more than 1,600 people have been arrested in connection with the violence and looting, and more than 500 have appeared in court.
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the probation officers' union Napo, estimated on Thursday there would be an extra 1,500 cases for the London courts, and 2,500 in total across England, just based on numbers of suspected looters and rioters identified so far.
More arrests were made on Thursday and they are likely to continue for some time as participants in the mayhem are identified from CCTV pictures.
"There is real concern as to how they can process this sort of work at a time when resources are incredibly tight," said Fletcher. He said he feared that proper assessment of motivation and social circumstances would not take place.
Magistrates, sitting through the night, have already handed down sentences in spite of having to find people at short notice to write social inquiry reports.
Fletcher said: "Motivation is complex. We have here greed, opportunism, wilful vandalism, and intense dislike of the police." It was not like the political and race riots of the 80s, he said. "It is essential officers take time and are reflective before they reach conclusions. That will be very difficult to do, given the evidence from government that they want swift justice and visible justice."
In the Commons, David Cameron made clear he expected the courts to be tough.
He said: "Anyone charged with violent disorder and other serious offences should expect to be remanded in custody – and anyone convicted should expect to go to jail. Courts in London, Manchester and the West Midlands have been sitting through the night, and will do so for as long as necessary. Magistrates courts have proved effective in ensuring swift justice. The crown courts are now starting to deal with the most serious cases. We are keeping under constant review whether the courts have the sentencing powers they need, and we'll act if necessary."
Those people charged with less serious offences might expect a community sentence, but Fletcher said early returns from some of the London magistrates suggested that at least half of the people who had appeared in court had got previous convictions. "Significant numbers will have breached community orders." He said that that could lead to jail sentences.
Inmate numbers in England and Wales are at a record high. In June there were 85,000 people behind bars, double the number in 1992-93 when Ken Clarke was home secretary.
Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said the judicial system was going to be under strain but that it would cope. "For a beleaguered justice system facing swingeing cuts, a massive influx of suspects and offenders will present real difficulties," she said. "But never underestimate the determination of an independent judiciary to ensure that due process is observed, or the discipline of the prison service and its capacity to cope with those sent down by the courts."
She thought that restorative justice, where offenders work to make amends to those they have wronged, would be a better solution for lesser offenders than an overcrowded prison.
"There will be some whose offending has been so serious or violent that there can be no alternative to custody. For others, the sanction could be restorative measures to ensure people take personal responsibility for making amends. Once order has been restored, the question will be how to build cohesive communities where prison occupies an important place of last resort."
There was no shortage of places in children's prisons, however.
John Drew, chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, said there were hundreds of empty places. "There is plenty of capacity in the system – more than 300 empty beds last night in young offender institutions, secure training centres and secure children's homes," Drew told the website Children & Young People Now. "We are more than able to deal with any upsurge in demand."
The Ministry of Justice was also confident that courts and prisons could cope.
"Courts and prisons are working around the clock to ensure that anyone involved in the criminal activity that has blighted our streets recently is brought to justice swiftly," it said. "More than 530 defendants have so far been brought before the courts and the majority of those charged have been remanded into custody. These unprecedented measures will continue for as long as necessary.
"We have made sure both our courts and our prisons have the capacity to deal with those who have broken the law. There is substantial capacity in the prison system (currently there are 2,500 unused spaces within the estate)."
Justice by numbers
As a sign of the tough justice being meted out to people charged with offences relating to the riots, a Guardian analysis of 124 cases heard before magistrates has found the majority of defendants being remanded in custody – even after guilty pleas to relatively minor offences.
As hundreds of cases fly through specially-convened night sittings by magistrates, the Guardian is cataloguing who is going to court and what is happening to those people.
In the cases the Guardian examined, those found guilty were mainly receiving prison sentences, or being passed on to higher courts for sentencing. A fifth of the cases ended with a sentence; the majority of those were custodial, bringing an average of just over four months.
Of the 1.7 million cases heard before magistrates last year only 3.5% led to remand in jail. This week the rate is at nearly 60%.
Thirty (or 24%) of the 124 cases the Guardian has looked at have been committed to the crown court.
We have compiled this list from magistrates' sessions, either attended on Thursday or on Wednesday by our reporters, as well as from news agencies' reports or from compilations done for us. It is a partial list and might always be, considering that more than 1,600 people have been arrested since the UK riots began on Saturday.
The Met police claim that about half of the 240 people who have appeared in court so far, charged with being involved in the riots in London, are under 18.
Our analysis also shows up the young age of those arrested and charged. Nearly 80% of those who have appeared in court have been under 25. Of the cases we looked at, 22 concerned people aged 11 to 17. Only a small number were aged over 30.
People now facing court charged with riot-related offences are overwhelmingly young, male and unemployed. We found four females in court so far, one of whom was 16. We found 11 cases where bail had been granted, and those were mainly children under the age of 18.
We have identified a few fines, mainly relating to a group of 18-year-olds from Liverpool who were arrested by police wearing face masks.
