The Ministry of Justice is preparing legislation that would significantly limit the right to trial by jury for thousands of cases in England and Wales. This follows recommendations made by Sir Brian Leveson in his independent review of the criminal courts. Courts minister Sarah Sackman told the Guardian that defendants were ‘gaming the system’ by electing jury trials to cause delays, contributing to a backlog approaching 80,000 cases.
Leveson’s proposals, published earlier this year, warn that without intervention the system risks ‘total system collapse’. His recommendations include the creation of a Crown Court Bench Division, where ‘either-way’ offences (cases that can be tried in either the magistrates’ court or the Crown court) would be heard by a judge and two magistrates. He also proposes restricting jury trials for offences with a maximum two-year sentence. In addition, he recommends directing judge-alone trials for serious and complex fraud.
The Leveson review found that delays are driving victims and witnesses out of the justice process, with some sexual assault complainants waiting up to four years for their cases to be heard. Leveson argues that increased investment and additional sitting days alone will not restore capacity.
Ministers first signalled in July that curbs on jury trials were being considered. Then Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, told MPs that while juries would remain central for the most serious cases, ‘we must ask whether there are cases that are today being heard by juries that need not do so in the future’. Similar concerns have previously been raised in parliamentary debates.
A survey by the Criminal Bar Association found that 88.5% of respondents opposed the creation of the Bench Division, while 78.2% objected to removing juries from fraud trials. The CBA argues that the backlog stems from chronic underfunding and restrictions on sitting days, not from defendants electing jury trials. CBA’s formal response warns that shifting fact-finding to a less diverse judiciary risks undermining public confidence. The organisation this week said: ‘The right to trial by jury dates back to Saxon Britain, before the Norman invasion of 1066. It is enshrined in Magna Carta. It has been a fundamental feature of the British Constitution, and the British Justice System, for over 800 years.’ They added in a statement that ‘the Government is gearing up for a slick public relations campaign to sell this attack on long-established rights.’
Concerns have also been raised about racial disparities. Jury trials are described in the Lammy Review as the only part of the system consistently free from racial bias, while judiciary diversity statistics show that just 12% of judges are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The MoJ is expected to bring forward legislation in the New Year
