Ministers are set to unveil major curbs to jury service.
The government says there is a “crisis” in the criminal justice system and bold action will be announced soon by ministers.
Sky News previously reported the Ministry of Justice was set to remove the right to trial by jury for thousands of cases, in a controversial measure which would mark a move away from a core pillar of the criminal justice system in England and Wales.
It’s now reported that ministers are examining plans to scrap jury trials in all but the most serious cases, with the majority being heard only by a judge.
A memo sent by David Lammy to fellow ministers, seen by the Times, says there is “no right” to jury trials in the UK and that drastic action was needed to cut the backlog of cases in the crown courts, nearing 80,000.
A spokesman for the government confirmed changes are coming soon to deal with the backlog. They say that the measures outlined in the memo are not yet the subject of cross-government agreement.
When Mr Lammy took up his position in September, it is understood he saw the courts as his ‘crisis’ to tackle, with his predecessor, Shabana Mahmood, having been seen to have gripped the immediacy of the prison overcrowding crisis.
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In the summer, retired Court of Appeal judge, Sir Brian Leveson, made recommendations to government, including a suggestion to end jury trials for many serious offences, saying they could be dealt with by a judge alone or a judge with two magistrates.
This would have been done by creating a new intermediate court, called the Crown Court Bench Division, sitting between magistrates’ courts and crown courts.
The plans in the leaked document go further than that, with suggestions that offences likely to receive a sentence of up to five years would be heard by judges alone.
Sir Brian suggested a judge and two magistrates should hear cases with a maximum sentence of three years.
These measures will be highly controversial, with the leader of the Conservatives Kemi Badenoch saying the move “risks fairness, undermines public trust and erodes the very foundation of our justice system”.
The Criminal Bar Association said the plans would “eviscerate the jury trial as we know it”.
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The government is expected to lay out its plans to tackle the backlog within the coming weeks.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “No final decision has been taken by government.
“We have been clear there is a crisis in the courts, causing pain and anguish to victims – with 78,000 cases in the backlog and rising – which will require bold action to put right.”
