"David Lammy's plans to introduce judge-only criminal trials in England and Wales will save less than 2% of time in crown courts, the Institute for Government (IFG) has said. In a report that casts doubt on the ability of the changes, which will slash the number of jury trials to achieve their goal of wiping out the courts' backlog, the thinktank described the gains from judge-only trials as marginal."
"The government's proposed reforms to jury trials will not fix the problems in the crown court. The time savings from judge-only trials will be marginal at best, amounting to less than 2% of crown court time. Hearing more trials in magistrates' courts is a stronger proposal and would potentially save more time, but the government has yet to set out specific details of how it would do that and the estimates are highly uncertain."
Proposed judge-only trials would reduce crown court time by less than 2%. The full package of changes could cut total courtroom time by roughly 7–10% while halving jury trials. Shifting more cases to magistrates' courts could potentially yield greater savings, but concrete plans and estimates are lacking. Larger, faster impact requires boosting productivity across criminal courts through workforce investment and improved technology. The proposals have provoked significant backlash from the legal profession and many parliamentarians. Removing the lay element from a previously recommended bench division increases controversy and risks damaging public confidence.
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