UK is all set to announce jury trial reforms

The United Kingdom government is set to announce plans to restrict the right to a jury trial in England and Wales in an attempt to turn around unprecedented backlogs and delays in justice, reports BBC.

David Lammy, Britain's Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, will lay out the proposals in Parliament later on Tuesday.

But he has insisted that juries would remain a "fundamental part of the criminal justice system".

It is not clear if the plan - which would end jury trials other than for most serious cases including murder - has been approved by Cabinet or retreated from.

Last week his final "decision", contained in a document circulated around government, was leaked to the BBC and The Times. The proposals to cut jury trials are based on recommendations from a senior retired judge, who advised ministers that the reform would help tackle delays.
There are currently 78,000 cases waiting to be completed in Crown Courts. In practice, this means that some suspects being charged with serious crimes today may not have a trial until late 2029 or early 2030. Officials predict the caseload will grow to more than 100,000 before then, unless there is further action.

Last week's leak of an internal government briefing showed final Ministry of Justice plans to create new forms of jury-less trials, where cases would be decided by a judge alone. Jury trial would therefore end for the majority of crimes currently before Crown Courts - including theft, most drugs, violent and sexual offences and fraud.

Cases would only definitely go before a jury if the defendant was likely to be jailed for more than five years or was accused of murder, manslaughter or rape.

Volunteer magistrates - who handle the overwhelming majority of criminal cases in the lowest courts - would see their sentencing powers doubled to two years.

The leaked plan does not apply to Scotland or Northern Ireland and was circulated to other departments before final Cabinet sign off. It goes further than recommendations earlier this year from retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Brian Leveson.