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In one of the biggest assaults on the fabric of English and British civil society, the Labour government and MP David Lammy are attempting to scrap trial by jury in all but the most serious cases.
www.bbc.co.uk
Currently all offences within the UK are classified as either Summary only, Either Way or Indictable only. A summary only offence is basically very low level crime such as traffic offences etc. These are heard at Magistrates court, where you are judged by a Magistrate.
Indictable only offences are the most serious and relate to rape, murder, terrorism etc. These are heard in Crown Courts and the case is overseen by a judge with a 12 person jury standing in judgement should the person plead not guilty.
Either way offences cover the vast majority of crimes and can be heard at either Magistrates or Crown Court - depending on the expected length of prison time if found guilty. 6 months or less - Magistrates. More than 6 months - Crown. At the time of charge, the CPS reviewing lawyer can decide if it's S, EW or I based on their personal opinion of the likely prison term.
Someone can be charged with an Either way offence and plead not guilty at Magistrates Court. They are then referred to the Crown Court
If a case is referred to the Crown Court, the person who plead not guilty will be automatically allowed a jury trial
Labour plan to scrap this and only offer jury trials for indictable only offences where the expected prison term is more than 3 years. This means that a reviewing lawyer can block a jury trial for anyone who they assess may only receive less than 3 years. This cuts out the public having the power to decide on cases that involve child sex offenders (who are currently receiving less than 3 years) and people who post anti migrant social media posts.
This hands complete power to a theoretical policitized judge who wants to punish right wing agitators but release sex offenders and foreign criminal.
This is the brain child of MP David Lammy, who has been referred to as the lowest IQ politician in the country. He argues this is to clear the backlog of court cases currently clogging up the British legal system, a backlog caused by the previous governments shutting down of society for COVID.
Needless to say my opinion is that this is the most naked move towards a totalitarian state I have seen in my lifetime. Jury trials were established in the 11th century of a way of communities policing themselves before being formalised in Magna carta. They are the one thing preventing complete state oppression in the UK.
Jury trials scrapped for crimes with sentences of less than three years
The reforms are being brought in to tackle unprecedented delays in the Crown Court.
www.bbc.co.uk
Currently all offences within the UK are classified as either Summary only, Either Way or Indictable only. A summary only offence is basically very low level crime such as traffic offences etc. These are heard at Magistrates court, where you are judged by a Magistrate.
Indictable only offences are the most serious and relate to rape, murder, terrorism etc. These are heard in Crown Courts and the case is overseen by a judge with a 12 person jury standing in judgement should the person plead not guilty.
Either way offences cover the vast majority of crimes and can be heard at either Magistrates or Crown Court - depending on the expected length of prison time if found guilty. 6 months or less - Magistrates. More than 6 months - Crown. At the time of charge, the CPS reviewing lawyer can decide if it's S, EW or I based on their personal opinion of the likely prison term.
Someone can be charged with an Either way offence and plead not guilty at Magistrates Court. They are then referred to the Crown Court
If a case is referred to the Crown Court, the person who plead not guilty will be automatically allowed a jury trial
Labour plan to scrap this and only offer jury trials for indictable only offences where the expected prison term is more than 3 years. This means that a reviewing lawyer can block a jury trial for anyone who they assess may only receive less than 3 years. This cuts out the public having the power to decide on cases that involve child sex offenders (who are currently receiving less than 3 years) and people who post anti migrant social media posts.
This hands complete power to a theoretical policitized judge who wants to punish right wing agitators but release sex offenders and foreign criminal.
This is the brain child of MP David Lammy, who has been referred to as the lowest IQ politician in the country. He argues this is to clear the backlog of court cases currently clogging up the British legal system, a backlog caused by the previous governments shutting down of society for COVID.
Needless to say my opinion is that this is the most naked move towards a totalitarian state I have seen in my lifetime. Jury trials were established in the 11th century of a way of communities policing themselves before being formalised in Magna carta. They are the one thing preventing complete state oppression in the UK.
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