The government would still curb jury trials even if the criminal courts were not in crisis, the courts minister revealed yesterday – as MPs demanded yet again to see the impact assessment for the proposal.
When the plan to axe a quarter of jury trials was announced last month, justice secretary David Lammy said the reforms were necessary ‘to tackle the emergency in our courts’.
Defending the proposals in a Commons debate yesterday, courts minister Sarah Sackman said: ‘People ask me, “Sarah, would you be doing this if there was not a crisis in our courts?” I say yes, because we need a better system. One in which courts, not criminals, triage cases.
‘We need a system that makes better use of jurors’ time and ensures that someone accused of shoplifting is not in the same queue as a victim of another crime. No one has had the guts to take on a programme of reform of this scale, but this government have the guts. The Conservatives had 14 years to fix the system, but they ran it into the ground. We make a different choice, we are bringing forward change.’
…
Article continues at https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/minister-admits-jury-trials-would-be-curbed-regardless-of-courts-crisis/5125535.article