Comment: Fighting to Protect Trial by Jury

This Tuesday, the Courts and Tribunals Bill had its second reading in Parliament, so as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Justice I spent much of the day in the House of Commons. 

The backlog in our crown court, where the most serious of cases are heard, now stands at 80,000. This is a disgraceful situation which leaves victims and defendants devoid of justice for years, with cases now being listed at the end of this decade. The Government must act to bring the Crown Court backlog down, because the current situation is failing victims and defendants alike. But their approach is all wrong. 

Jess Brown-Fuller is calling for action to tackle the disgraceful Crown Court backlog.

Their current view is the only way to deal with the backlog is by eroding the right to a jury trial for a significant number of cases; in particular, those that carry sentences of up to three years’ imprisonment. This could be a charge of actual bodily harm, certain sexual offences, or some types of grievous bodily harm. The Deputy Prime Minister disgracefully compared the right to a jury trial for this sort of case as ‘someone grazing their knee and going to a consultant’, when in fact it could be an individual receiving a sentence that changes the very fabric of their lives.  

There is no evidence that juries are the problem. This explains why, even with proposals that would fundamentally change the justice system, the Government is modelling a reduction of just 5% in the backlog by the end of this Parliament, and that is alongside a whole raft of other efficiencies they are planning to introduce. 

It is for this reason, and many others, that the Government’s proposals have been opposed by much of the justice community. Lawyers, barristers and judges have all voiced concerns about the fundamental undermining of defendants’ rights for such little return. 

Instead, the Government should be focusing on the real causes of the backlog; inefficiencies, failings in prisoner delivery contracts and crumbling court buildings. Capacity and funding is key to turn the tide. 

The Government must also heed the Liberal Democrats’ calls to supercharge the court system by hearing two cases per court per day, with AM and PM sittings. That’s how you clear the backlog without taking an axe to the system.