Thousands of jury trials a year are set to be scrapped as the government pushed forward with controversial plans to hand over cases to judges sitting alone.
Justice Secretary David Lammy told the House of Commons on Tuesday that trial by jury will be swept away from cases involving serious criminal allegations which carry sentences of three years or less.
In their place, a judge will sit on the trial and reach verdicts on the defendant’s guilt.
He promised that the most serious cases - known as indictable only - will retain the jury system, except for some complex fraud trials which will also be overseen by a single judge.
He dubbed the new juryless trials as “swift courts”, and blamed the unprecedented justice crisis for his proposed reforms.
In London, some criminal trials are currently being listed in 2030, and there is a growing bank of evidence that victims and witnesses are abandoning the justice system while trapped in chronic delays.
In his Commons speech, Mr Lammy told MPs: “When victims are left waiting for years, justice is effectively denied to them.”
He announced greater investment in the justice sector, including a boost in the Legal Aid budget and £550 million for victims services.
But Mr Lammy signalled that even with the radical changes he is proposing, the rate of change will be slow.
He said he is aiming for “record-breaking” numbers of sitting days in the Crown Courts over the next few years, but could only offer a hope that the backlog, currently at around 80,000 cases, would start to go down by the end of this Parliament.
“The problem took years of building, and will take years to fix”, he said, adding that the changes will also have to pass through both Houses of Parliament.
The government is following many recommendations from an independent review by Sir Brian Leveson, including handing over more cases to magistrates courts and withdrawing the right to elect jury trial in “either way” offences.
But Mr Lammy has departed from Sir Brian’s recommendation for a judge and two magistrates to sit on cases that now do not have a jury, opting instead for a judge sitting alone.
The threat to the jury system has faced a fierce backlash from the legal sector since being leaked two weeks ago.
The government has been accused of failing to look at other options to improve court efficiency before withdrawing the historic right to trial by jury.
The Criminal Bar Association and the Law Society are among those who are opposed to scrapping jury trials, while Doughty Street Chambers - which counts Mr Lammy and Prime Minister Keir Starmer among its alumni - has also joined the chorus of disapproval.
In a statement after the government’s announcement, Sir Brian said: “In more than fifty years working in the criminal justice system, I have never seen pressure on the courts at such an unacceptable level.
“The rising backlog in the Crown Court means victims, witnesses and defendants are waiting months, sometimes years, for cases to come to trial – unable to move on with their lives. It is no exaggeration to say that the system stands on the brink of collapse.
“The evidence is clear that more sitting days and greater efficiency will not rescue the position on their own: at present, the number of outstanding cases is growing at a faster pace than the system can dispose of them and there is already a shortage of judges, lawyers and court officials to staff any increased sitting days.
There is no silver bullet.
“The recommendations I put forward represented a package of reforms designed to transform our courts into a system that can provide appropriate and fair decision-making in a timely fashion. How otherwise can we restore the position so that justice is not delayed for years?”
Speaking this morning before the formal announcement, Mr Lammy said he wanted to give victims the “swift justice they deserve”
Faced with a backlash against the reforms, Mr Lammy insisted juries remain “fundamental” and he is also looking at expanding magistrates’ powers for them to take on more serious cases.
