"Jury trials for all except the most serious crimes such as rape, murder and manslaughter are set to be scrapped under radical proposals drawn up by David Lammy. In proposals that drew a swift backlash from senior lawyers, who said that they would not reduce court backlogs and could destroy justice as we know it, the justice secretary has proposed that juries will only pass judgment on public interest offences with possible prison sentences of more than five years."
"Lone judges would preside over trials of other serious offences meriting sentences of up to five years, he suggested, removing the ancient right of thousands of defendants to be heard before a jury. The Ministry of Justice said no final decision had been taken by the government, but sources confirmed the proposals had been circulated throughout Whitehall in preparation for an announcement in the new year."
David Lammy has proposed limiting jury trials to public-interest offences carrying possible prison sentences of more than five years, with judges alone trying other serious offences up to five years. The plan would create a new intermediate court tier and remove jury consideration for thousands of defendants. The proposals aim to address crown court backlogs, which exceed 78,000 cases, and go beyond Sir Brian Leveson’s recommendations for a crown court bench division. Senior lawyers have strongly criticized the measures as unlikely to reduce delays and potentially harmful to defendants’ rights. No final government decision has been made.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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