“Jury Trials are fundamental part of our democratic settlement. Criminal trials without juries are a bad idea.”
The leaked briefing proposing the end to jury trials for all but the very most serious cases is an announcement that proposes an end to our system of justice as we recognise it.
The right to be tried by our peers has long been the cornerstone of our justice system. This announcement will bring an end to this right for 90% of cases before the Crown Court and reserves it only for the most serious of cases.
The jury system is the one aspect of our system in which the public have faith, as repeated surveys have shown, and far more confidence in the verdicts of a jury rather than a Judge.
David Lammy himself tweeted in 2020 that
“Jury Trials are fundamental part of our democratic settlement. Criminal trials without juries are a bad idea.”
The 36group and its practitioners are gravely concerned about the impact of this proposal on our entire criminal justice system and in particular on the impact of the most disadvantaged in our society. Despite efforts our senior judiciary are still drawn from a far more narrow group than reflects the society we live in.
We will, of course, await and carefully consider any formal announcement from the Government and the response from the Criminal Bar Association.
Further information
For more information from the crime team, contact clerks@36crime.co.uk
