Reuters
—
Britain will strip defendants in many less serious criminal cases of their historic right to a jury trial, Justice Minister David Lammy announced on Tuesday, in a bid to address a growing crisis in the court system.
Britain’s judicial system is strained, with tens of thousands of criminal cases backlogged in courts, overcrowded prisons leading to prisoners being released early to ease tensions, and convicts being released by mistake.
Critics of the Lamy plan say years of neglect and underinvestment by successive governments, not jury trials, are to blame for the current state of the criminal justice system, with crumbling court buildings and too few judges and staff.
The new measures announced by Lamy, who is also deputy prime minister, will prohibit defendants from choosing jury trials in cases where they are likely to receive a sentence of less than three years in prison. Serious crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and arson will remain tried by jury.
Lamy said new single-judge “fast-track courts” would be created that would take 20 per cent less time than jury trials, and would allow complex fraud and financial trials to be conducted by a judge alone.
“It is clear that jury trials will continue to be the cornerstone of the system for the most serious crimes,” Mr Lammy told parliament. “We now face an emergency in court and must act.”
The plan requires parliamentary approval and only applies to England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own legal arrangements.
The government says there are around 78,000 cases waiting to be tried by jury in so-called Crown Courts in England and Wales, and that number is expected to reach 100,000 by 2028, meaning victims will have to wait a long time for justice.
Some trials in London are currently scheduled to be heard in 2029 or 2030, leading to fears that some complainants and witnesses are abandoning their cases.
The concept of the right to trial by jury in English law was established by Magna Carta in 1215. However, more than 90% of criminal cases are already dealt with in magistrates’ courts, where a single magistrate or a panel of judges hands down sentences.
Mr Lamy said under the new reforms, judges would have greater powers to hand down sentences of up to 18 months, meaning fewer cases would need to be brought to the Crown Court.
“We are all proud of our justice system, which is rooted in Magna Carta. But we must never forget that Magna Carta asks us not to deny or delay justice,” Lamy said.
The Bar Council, which represents trial lawyers, said replacing jurors with judges and tribunals and having them sit alone is not the solution.
“We have continued to oppose proposals to reduce jury trials because there is no evidence that eliminating them would reduce case backlogs and no indication of how alternative systems would be funded,” Bar Association President Barbara Mills said in a statement.
“We call on governments to reconsider pursuing radical change in the mistaken belief that radical is effective.”
