Lammy announces major reforms to courts and justice system

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Justice Secretary David Lammy announces that he will enact three major reforms to the courts and justice system that have been recommended by Sir Brian Leveson. The Deputy Prime Minister says that jury trials will be removed for "triable, either way cases, with a likely sentence of three years or less", amongst other signifcant changes. Report by Ketchs. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

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00:00First, I will create new swift courts within the Crown Court with a judge alone deciding

00:06verdicts in tribal either way cases with a likely sentence of three years or less, as

00:13Sir Brian recommends. Sir Brian estimates that they will deliver justice at least 20%

00:20faster than jury trials. And whilst jury deliberations remain confidential, judges provide reasoning

00:27for their verdicts in open court. So this will hardwire transparency into our new approach.

00:34Sir Brian also proposes restricting defendants' right to elect for jury trials, a practice not

00:41found widely in other common law jurisdictions. And let's be honest, it's a peculiar way to run

00:47a public service. Our world-leading judges should hear the most serious cases, and I agree that

00:53they and the magistrate should decide where a case is heard. This will prevent defendants

00:58from gaming the system, choosing whichever court they think gives the best chance of success

01:03and drawing out the process, hoping victims give up. And I will limit appeals from the magistrate's

01:09court so that they are only allowed on points of law to prevent justice being delayed further.

01:16Alongside these changes, we will increase magistrate's court sentencing powers to 18 months, so they

01:22can take a greater proportion of lower-level offending and relieve pressure on the Crown Court.

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