UK: David Lammy considers scrapping jury trials for all but the most serious cases

[muriel_volestrangler]

Jury trials for all except the most serious crimes such as rape, murder and manslaughter are set to be scrapped under radical proposals drawn up by David Lammy.

In proposals that drew a swift backlash from senior lawyers, who said that they would not reduce court backlogs and could “destroy justice as we know it”, the justice secretary has proposed that juries will only pass judgment on public interest offences with possible prison sentences of more than five years.

Lone judges would preside over trials of other serious offences meriting sentences of up to five years, he suggested, removing the ancient right of thousands of defendants to be heard before a jury.
...
Lammy’s proposals, which would create a new tier of court in which most criminal offences would be tried by judges alone, go well beyond the recommendations of Sir Brian Leveson, who was commissioned to review the criminal courts and reported in July. And they exceed the courts minister Sarah Sackman’s interview with the Guardian last week, where she set out a plan to stop criminals “gaming the system”.

The MoJ document, circulated in Whitehall earlier this month, reports that crown courts are facing record backlogs, with more than 78,000 cases waiting to be completed.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov/25/moj-considering-extreme-proposal-to-scrap-jury-trials-for-all-but-most-serious-cases

Wow. There's often been moves to restrict the right to a jury trial a bit, but cutting it just to rape, murder and manslaughter (plus the oddly-termed "public interest" trials, which I suspect have no definition in law) is a huge move. The excuse of "we have current backlogs" is just not good enough.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Welcome to the Maga Carta.

It’s an illness.

[shenmue]

2. Whoa, just what? I mean really, what are in the sentences I have just read?

*Scrapping the right to a jury trial*?