The Justice Secretary David Lammy is reportedly set restrict the right to a jury trial to defendants facing rape, murder, manslaughter or other cases passing a public interest test.
The Ministry of Justice memo, seen by the media, confirms plans to create a new jury-less court in England and Wales which would deal with most crimes currently considered by juries in Crown Courts.
Bar Council Chair Barbara Mills KC said: “The criminal justice system is not in this crisis because of jury trials. Removing the right to jury trial and introducing a new intermediate court has not been piloted or thoroughly modelled with there being little evidence that it will significantly reduce the Crown Court backlog. This is a time-consuming measure that requires legislative change and hinges on increasing court resources that could be better diverted to the existing estate.
“The focus should be on fixing the swathe of inefficiencies plaguing the system, which could be resolved and make a real difference now. The government should first test whether efficiency reforms would make a difference before making any major constitutional change.
“At the very least, the proposed intermediate court should be modelled and piloted before doing away with a longstanding tradition, which may result in a further lack of trust and confidence in our criminal justice system.”