The jury under attack from government

“You have little choice when you receive your jury summons. But the criminal justice system relies on you as members of the public to give up your time, pull yourselves from your everyday lives, turn up at court, listen to the evidence, be patient when there are delays, and ultimately make decisions about your peers. The jury system is the best and fairest way of deciding the outcome of trials” - remarks to the jury of  HHJ David Herbert KC, 20 November 2025 at Northampton Crown Court.  

Back in July, Sir Brian Leveson published the first part of his Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. Initial thoughts about the report may be read in the previous post 6 July 2025. 

Independent Review of the Criminal Courts Part 1 (pdf 388 pages). Part 2 of the report - (Efficiency) - is awaited.

The report, if adopted in full, will result in only the more serious criminal cases being tried by Judge and Jury in the Crown Court.    

At the outset, Leveson set the background - 'Criminal justice is in crisis. The open caseload in the Crown Court has now reached a record high. As of December 2024, there were over 75,000 outstanding cases in the Crown Court. That is more than double the numbers in 2019, and trials are being listed as far ahead as 2029.'

The crisis has come about mainly 

because of under-funding of criminal justice though the problem was made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic (2020 - 21).  It is also clear, but by no means frequently discussed, that both the time for trial preparation and trial lengths have lengthened over recent decades.

The proposed solution to the crisis is to remove trial by jury for all but the most serious offences even though it is not the need for a jury that has caused the problem.

On 20 November 2025 an article by Sarah Sackman MP (Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services) was published by The Guardian stated that 'the government is preparing to remove the right to trial by jury for thousands of cases.'

Further, a memo leaked to The Times revealed that David Lammy MP (Deputy Prime Ministers, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor) told 'Ministers and civil servants that murder, manslaughter, rape and ‘public interest’ cases would be heard by a jury. Less serious offences would be heard by a judge alone.' The meaning of the term 'public interest' was not set out.

Naturally, these Ministerial remarks attracted a large volume of critical comment given that jury trial for serious offences is centuries-old and generally enjoys the confidence of the public . It is the trial method preferred by the vast majority of criminal law practitioners. 

It remains to be seen what Lammy will eventually announce to Parliament. 

See the view of the Criminal Bar Association (24 November 2025) and the Law Society Gazette 26 November 2025.

Also see PoliticsUK 20 November 2025

The Justice Gap 24 November 2025 

Institute for Government 28 November 2025 - Most countries don’t use jury trials, but few rely on a single judge to pass both verdict and sentence.

*** House of Commons 27 November 20215 ***

The right to trial by jury