Independent Review of the Criminal Courts Part 1 (pdf 388 pages). Part 2 of the report - (Efficiency) - continues to be awaited.
On Tuesday 2 November 2025, the Secretary of State for Justice (Mr David Lammy MP) announced to the House of Commons the government's proposals for criminal justice reforms - see Hansard 2 December.
At this point we can note that indictable-only offences (i.e. triable ONLY in the Crown Court) will continue to be tried with juries. There are many such offences including murder, manslaughter, causing death by dangerous driving, robbery, aggravated burglary etc.
An exception will be 'exceptionally technical and lengthy fraud and financial trials' where judges will be able to sit without a jury where appropriate. Lammy said - 'While those cases are small in number, they place undue pressure on jurors to sit for months—a significant interference with their personal and professional lives.' Naturally one wonders whether that reasoning will come to apply to other types of case - e.g. cases involving difficult forensic or medical evidence etc.
Many offences are "triable either-way" -
that is by either the Crown Court or the Magistrates' Court. The right of defendants to elect for trial in the Crown Court will be removed in cases where the likely sentence will be 3 years imprisonment or less. This will remove juries from the greater proportion of cases tried in the Crown Court - see Sky News 3 December 2025.
Where an either-way offence is to be tried in Crown Court it will be for a judge to decide the likely sentence. That will decide the method of trial - i.e. judge with jury or judge alone.
According to Lammy, this reform is required because
' ... it will prevent defendants from gaming the system, choosing whichever court they think gives the best chance of success and drawing out the process, hoping victims give up.'
Lammy informed Parliament that any either-way cases going to the Crown Court will be triable by a judge sitting alone and the judge will be required to give reasons for the verdict.
The Magistrates' Courts will be given power to sentence up to 18 months imprisonment and the Secretary of State will have a power to increase that to 2 years. This reform will result in even more cases being tried by the Magistrates' Court where trial is either by a bench of three Magistrates or by a District Judge (Magistrates' Courts).
Parliament
Please see - Hansard 2 December 2025 - Criminal Justice Reform - Statement by Secretary of State for Justice
We have yet to see detailed proposals and a Bill will be introduced to Parliament in the not too distant future.
I propose to consider Lammy's proposals in greater depth and will blog about it in due course.
Juries will come to be used in markedly fewer cases than they are at present. Essentially, Lammy argues that the proposals are required because the 'case load is projected to reach 100,000 cases by 2028, and without fundamental change it could keep rising, meaning that justice will be denied to more victims and trust in the system will collapse.'
The manifesto
None of this appeared in the Labour Party's 2024 manifesto although it did comment that Labour wanted -
'A justice system that puts victims first'. It said that - 'After 14 years of neglect, the criminal justice system is broken. Victims wait months, sometimes years, for their case to come to trial, unable to move on with their lives ....'
Lammy's announcement revealed the provision of 'multi-year funding' for victim support services which he said amounts to 'record investment in victim support services of £550 million ...'
On a somewhat political note, it is worth pointing out what David Lammy wrote in Chapter 4 of his 2020 Review -
Links
The General Council of the Bar urges government not to pursue changes to jury trial
Secret Barrister - Abolishing trial by jury: Why is the government overlooking the obvious?
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