The decision to limit jury trials brings a wrecking ball to the system
Jury trials in England and Wales for crimes that carry a likely sentence of less than three years will be scrapped
Let’s be clear – despite the government’s climb down from five back to three years, the proposal as announced today, brings a wrecking ball to a system that is fundamentally sound and has been in place for generations.
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Juries work – they do their job superbly, and without bias. Juries have not caused the backlog.
Although there are many things the CBA welcome in the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement, such as his commitment to the criminal bar, and the increase in sitting days, criminal barristers have been clear from the outset that we overwhelmingly oppose Judge-alone trials in the Crown Court.
We are deeply concerned about the lack of detail provided in David Lammy's comments.
The government have had six months or more to consider the Leveson proposals. They have in the past week chopped and changed, leaving themselves open to the question - how well have they thought these measures through? There has been no modelling, not costing, no piloting. There is no certainty they will work, and poorly drawn comparisons with other jurisdictions that operate different systems are simply not good enough.
The lack of clarity as to how the measures will ameliorate the backlog NOW is concerning. IF agreed by Parliament, they will take a significant amount of investment and time before the fruits, if any, are seen. We appreciate the Government's focus on victim complainants, but how does this additional delay help them when they have been told their trials can not take place till 2029? Or the accused waiting to be able to continue their lives?
The very way this decision making process has been managed continues to undermine the public faith in our justice system.
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Riel Karmy-Jones KC, is Chair of the Criminal Bar Association.
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