Jury trials could be scrapped for thousands of offenders to prevent courts from hitting an unprecedented backlog of 100,000 cases, the Justice Secretary has signalled.
In an exclusive article for The Telegraph, Shabana Mahmood said “once-in-a-generation reform” of the courts was the only way to tackle the delays in justice for victims.
She said no amount of extra money for judges to preside over more trials would stop the relentless rise of the backlog, with rape victims’ cases already being delayed until 2027.
Ms Mahmood has commissioned Sir Brian Leveson, one of Britain’s top judges, to review ways in which defendants’ rights to jury trials could be scaled back without undermining fair justice.
This could see magistrates hearing more serious cases, some defendants losing the right to ask for their case to be tried in the crown court before a jury and the creation of a new intermediate court, which would replace a jury with one judge and two magistrates.
The right to a jury trial extends back to the 13th century and ministers are adamant that serious crimes such as murder, manslaughter, sexual assaults – including rape – assault causing grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary and arson with intent will still be tried before their peers in the Crown Court.
Ms Mahmood said: “Some will criticise the Government for even considering such fundamental changes. I say to them that our system’s greatest strength is that it has evolved in order to meet an unchanging promise: that victims will see justice done.
“Today, our system is under more strain than ever before. Justice is delayed for far too many, and as a result it is denied to the victims of some of the most awful crimes that can be committed. Justice must be swifter. That demands bold reform, and we will not shy away from it.”
The need for such “bold” reform, including the potential creation of an intermediate court, has been backed by Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, her predecessor Lord Burnett and by his predecessor Lord Chief Justice John Thomas this week.
However, it will probably be opposed by many in the legal system and some senior Tories.
It comes as Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures showed that court backlogs have risen to around 75,000 cases on Thursday, which is nearly double the 38,000 before the pandemic.
‘We must be bolder’
Ms Mahmood said the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had forecast that the number could surge towards 100,000 cases in just a few years. “If we are to stop the backlog from growing, and therefore give victims the swift justice they deserve, we must be bolder,” she said.
“We therefore need once-in-a-generation reform of our courts,” she added. “I have tasked Sir Brian to take a forensic look at our criminal courts. I have tasked him with considering how we might speed up the hearing of cases.”
Ministers said “no options were off the table” but Ms Mahmood has specifically asked Sir Brian to consider the concept of an intermediate court, which would potentially be modelled on what she said was the “persuasive” case argued by Lord Auld in a report commissioned by Sir Tony Blair’s government in 2001.
Lord Auld proposed that the court – with a judge and two magistrates – would try cases where offenders faced crimes meriting no more than two-year jail sentences, such as assault of a police officer while resisting arrest, racially aggravated criminal damage, dangerous driving and possessing a class C drug like cannabis.
It could remove as many as 10,000 cases from the backlog. Data shows there were nearly 9,236 cases in the year to June 2024 where an offender appeared before a Crown Court and was sentenced to between one and two years in jail.
The MoJ has already extended the power of magistrates to impose sentences of up to a year, which is up from six months previously, but the review will consider whether more cases should be switched to them from the Crown Court.
A third option would remove the right of defendants brought before magistrates to elect for a Crown Court jury trial for lesser offences such as possession of a class C drug like cannabis, minor assaults or petty theft.
Sarah Sackman, the new courts minister and barrister, has only been in her job for eight days but said she had been shocked by the “dire” state of the courts system.
“The reality is that the measures we have taken so far barely touch the sides of the problem and what’s actually needed is fundamental reform,” she said. “What we’ve said to Sir Brian is that no option should be off the table because such is the scale of the problem.”
Asked by The Telegraph whether she could offer any commitment to victims, she said: “I’m not going to be drawn on specific targets. Listing is obviously a matter for the independent judiciary, but we should all be working together to get to the point where our system as a whole is functioning so that no victim of any crime, but still less rape or sexual offences, are waiting more than two years.”
Justice delayed is as good as justice denied
By Shabana Mahmood
All too often in our country today, justice delayed is justice denied.
Three years ago, the last Conservative government promised that the backlog of cases waiting to be heard in our Crown Courts would reduce from 60,000 to 53,000 “by March 2025”.
With that deadline now just a few months away, their true inheritance is clear. Rather than bringing the backlog down by 7,000 cases, it grew to record levels. New data to be published today will set out its true scale.
It is important, however, that we look more deeply at these numbers. Because behind them are thousands of victims awaiting their day in court. The impact on them can be devastating. Far too many now face an interminable wait for justice. Delays now run not just for months, but for years.
For some – including victims of the most heinous crimes, such as rape – the wait is more than they can bear. Left without hope of the justice they deserve and facing a long road to the closure they need, some drop out of their case. When they do, their attackers get away without consequence, free to offend again.
We know for many victims, justice delayed is as good as justice denied.
The impact of court delays is felt across the criminal justice system. As the court backlog grows, so does the prison population on “remand”, who are those in jail awaiting trial or sentencing. This figure currently stands at over 17,000 – one in every five prisoners. The increase in remand prisoners clogs up the prison system, filling up “reception prisons” where capacity pressures are most acute.
For the sake of victims and for the sustainability of our justice system, we must deliver justice more swiftly.
We have begun the work of doing this. Since taking office, we have allocated an extra 500 days of sitting in the Crown Court than the previous government. We have also expanded magistrates’ courts sentencing powers from six to twelve months for a single, triable either-way offence, taking lower-level cases out of the Crown Court. In effect, this is likely to create up to 2,000 more sitting days in the Crown Courts, meaning judges can focus on the more serious cases.
There have been calls on the Government to fund further sitting days in the Crown Courts. Despite the financial constraints that this Government has inherited, we will fund as many as we possibly can. I know that people working across the Ministry of Justice and courts throughout the country have been working as hard as they can to deliver.
I must be honest, however. The reality is that simply funding more days in the courts is not enough. Even if the courts were operating at their maximum capacity, the caseload would still continue to grow. Anthony Rogers, the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service, suggested last month that it could surge towards 100,000 cases in just a few years. If we are to stop the backlog from growing and therefore give victims the swift justice they deserve, we must be bolder.
We therefore need once-in-a-generation reform of our courts. Today, I have asked Sir Brian Leveson, one of our country’s most highly regarded legal minds, to take a forensic look at our criminal courts. I have tasked him with considering how we might speed up the hearing of cases.
Sir Brian’s review will examine how our courts can operate more efficiently, but it will do more than that too. He will consider when we use the Crown Court – where a judge presides and a jury decides – and when we should make more use of other courts instead. He will consider whether more cases should move from the Crown Court to magistrates’ courts. He will look at which offenders should be given the right to appeal a magistrate’s sentence, where today they can appeal their case in the Crown Court.
Finally, I have asked Sir Brian to consider the case for a new court entirely. In 2001, Lord Justice Auld argued a persuasive case in favour of a new “intermediate court”. Here cases that are too serious to be heard by a magistrate alone could be heard by a judge flanked by magistrates.
Some will criticise the Government for even considering such fundamental changes. I say to them that our system’s greatest strength is that it has evolved in order to meet an unchanging promise: that victims will see justice done.
Today, our system is under more strain than ever before. Justice is delayed for far too many and as a result it is denied to the victims of some of the most awful crimes that can be committed. Justice must be swifter. That demands bold reform and we will not shy away from it.
Shabana Mahmood MP is Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice