IFG says proposed plans, which will slash the number of jury trials, will produce ‘marginal gains’ of less than 2% time saved
David Lammy’s plans to introduce judge-only criminal trials in England and Wales will save less than 2% of time in crown courts, the Institute for Government (IFG) has said.
In a report that casts doubt on the ability of the changes, which will slash the number of jury trials to achieve their goal of wiping out the courts’ backlog, the thinktank described the gains from judge-only trials as “marginal”.
It said while the number of jury trials would fall by about 50%, there would probably be only a 7 to 10% reduction in total time taken in the courtroom as a result of the entire package of changes, with judge-only trials only contributing to a fraction of that.
Cassia Rowland, who authored the report said: “The government’s proposed reforms to jury trials will not fix the problems in the crown court. The time savings from judge-only trials will be marginal at best, amounting to less than 2% of crown court time.
