As reported in The Guardian, over 100 barristers and solicitors have written to the Lord Chancellor urging the Government to protect the right to trial by jury and focus on proven, practical measures to improve court efficiency.
The letter responds to Sir Brian Leveson’s recommendations made in the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts to create a new Crown Court Bench Division (CCBD) and expand judge-alone trials.
The lawyers, including many senior practitioners, warn that these measures would lead to the abolition of jury trial in a significant number of cases and would not improve the backlog of criminal trials.
Their concerns include:
- Trial by jury remains fundamental to the nation’s concept of justice.
- The proposed new CCBD would require substantial new infrastructure and staffing, potentially diverting resources away from existing courts without clear evidence that it would reduce delays.
- The magistracy and judiciary remain unrepresentative of the wider population and cannot match the diversity of 12 people drawn from the local community.
- Increasing court sitting days, judicial appointments, and investment in legal aid would do more to reduce delays.
Signatories include KCs and junior barristers, solicitors and legal NGOs, many of whom have decades of experience in complex criminal cases.
The Letter to Lord Chancellor on Jury Reform is available to read here.
