The criminal team at Goldsmith Chambers are shocked and appalled at the leaked suggestions that the government propose to remove the right to jury trial in all but a handful of cases.
We see juries at work every day. We see how 12 completely random and independent members of the public work diligently and conscientiously making very difficult decisions on a whole variety of cases. Cases that are of profound importance to both the victims of crime and those accused.
Those jurors bring a wide variety of experience of life to the decisions they make. That varied experience is something no judge sitting alone could bring to a case. Those jurors bring a protection from autocracy and the excessive use of executive power, just as they have for hundreds of years. In 1670 a jury refused to convict in the trial of Penn and Mead, in an act commemorated by a plaque at the Old Bailey, despite being imprisoned without food and water by the trial judge. Jury trial is what we are all rightly proud of as the cornerstone of our criminal justice process and it is outrageous for the government to seek to virtually abolish that system that has brought us justice and fairness for so long.
The current delays in the criminal justice system are of course unacceptable. Those delays however are not because of the system of trial by jury. Nor is the current backlog simply a product of the covid pandemic, there was already a substantial backlog being created by then due to the government cutting back on sitting days in the Crown Court. The delays are because of under investment and neglect by successive governments, who have appointed Lord Chancellors who are interested in political advancement rather than upholding the rule of law. We would urge the government to listen to the proposals of the Criminal Bar Association to improve the efficiency of the system, rather than take away the protection our juries give to all of us in this country on a political whim.
Related practice areas: Crime
