The BBC reported this week on an internal government briefing containing plans to create an extra tier of judge-only courts in England and Wales that would cover crimes attracting sentences of up to five years. It would handle most crimes currently heard before a jury. Lammy’s intention is to speed up cases, cutting the unprecedented backlog of 78,000 Crown Court criminal cases, currently unlikely to be heard until 2029 or 2030.
The Ministry of Justice says no decision has been taken by the government.
However, Law Society president Mark Evans said: ‘This extreme measure on jury trials goes far beyond the recommendations made by Sir Brian Leveson in his independent report.’
In July, Lord Leveson's Independent Review of the Criminal Courts proposed creating an extra tier of judge-only court, the Crown Court Bench Division, hearing cases where defendants could be sentenced to up to three years in prison.
Evans said: ‘We have not seen any real evidence that expanding the types of cases heard by a single judge will work to reduce the backlogs.
‘The Leveson proposals were an uncomfortable compromise, only justifiable given the extensive challenges our justice system faces. To go beyond Leveson’s proposals is a step too far.’
In an impassioned blogpost on the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) website this week, prior to the BBC report, Riel Karmy-Jones KC, CBA chair, said: ‘Jury trial, in place for hundreds of serious offences, is a right which has been applauded and emulated by other nations.
‘Juries are trusted by ordinary working people—the very people this government repeatedly and pointedly professes to care for, to represent and to keep safe from harm.’
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