US EditionDavid Lammy to unveil plans to tackle 'courts emergency' but possible limits to jury trials spark concern
Labour plans to limit jury trials to serious crimes and invest £550 million in victim support amid a 78,000-case backlog threatening the UK justice system.
- Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy will unveil a package of reforms addressing court backlogs, warning long waits have 'pushed the justice system to the brink' and proposing limits on jury trials.
- Backlog pressures — including 78,000 crown court cases — underpin the reform push as delays cause some victims and witnesses to lose faith, letting perpetrators avoid accountability.
- Sir Brian Leveson recommended diverting more offences to magistrates' courts and limiting juries to indictable-only crimes, paired with extra crown court sitting days and a match-fund scheme.
- Lammy will allocate £550m to victim support over the next three years, while Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said, `This year alone 21,000 court sitting days have been missed, and the court backlog is up 10% on their watch.`
- Ministry figures show a high share of violent and sexual cases in the backlog and low jury use, with the Law Society of England and Wales calling the proposal an 'extreme measure' that may not reduce delays.
28 Articles
28 Articles
Limiting jury trials is a political choice
David Lammy is preparing for a “once-in-a-generation” reform of the courts system. The Justice Secretary today confirmed plans to restrict the right to a trial by jury for a raft of offences where the likely sentence is three years or less. These plans build on the recommendations of retried judge Sir Brian Leveson’s report into fixing the broken courts system, published over the summer. They are slightly watered down from the proposals leaked l…
Jury trials: what the UK government’s plan to limit them would mean for victims, defendants and courts
Justice secretary David Lammy has announced one of the most significant changes to criminal justice in England and Wales in decades, by scrapping the use of jury trials for most offences that carry a likely jail sentence of less than three years. Under the proposals, only the most serious offences such as murder, robbery and rape would continue to be tried by a jury. Most other cases would be heard by a judge alone. The reforms will also include…
The European Conservative
Europe ReloadedUK Government Curbs Jury Rights as Court Crisis Deepens
The British government will scrap jury trials for offences carrying likely sentences of under three years, a major curtailment of a centuries-old safeguard that ministers claim will ease pressure on England and Wales’ clogged courts. Justice Secretary David Lammy announced the reforms on Tuesday, insisting the changes were “necessary”—even as critics warned they risk undermining public trust and weakening defendants’ rights. The plan introduces…
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