Jury trial reforms set to be announced

"The government is set to announce plans to restrict the right to a jury trial in England and Wales in an attempt to turn around unprecedented backlogs and delays in justice. David Lammy, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary, will lay out the proposals in Parliament later on Tuesday. Last week his final "decision", contained in a document circulated around government, was leaked to the BBC and The Times."

"Last week's leak of an internal government briefing showed final Ministry of Justice plans to create new forms of jury-less trials, where cases would be decided by a judge alone. Jury trial would therefore end for the majority of crimes currently before Crown Courts - including theft, most drugs, violent and sexual offences and fraud. Cases would only definitely go before a jury if the defendant was likely to be jailed for more than five years or was accused of murder, manslaughter or rape."

"There are currently 78,000 cases waiting to be completed in Crown Courts. In practice, this means that some suspects being charged with serious crimes today may not have a trial until late 2029 or early 2030. Officials predict the caseload will grow to more than 100,000 before then, unless there is further action. Volunteer magistrates - who handle the overwhelming majority of criminal cases in the lowest courts - would see their sentencing powers doubled to two years."

The government plans to restrict jury trials in England and Wales by introducing judge-alone trials for most Crown Court offences to address unprecedented backlogs. Cases waiting to be completed number about 78,000 and could exceed 100,000, producing trial delays into 2029-2030. Jury trials would be reserved for cases likely to carry sentences over five years and for murder, manslaughter and rape. Volunteer magistrates would have their sentencing powers doubled to two years. The proposals were based on recommendations from a senior retired judge and a leaked internal briefing indicates the plan goes further than earlier judicial recommendations.

Read at www.bbc.com