🔴 LAMMY’S STEALTH ATTACK ON JURY RIGHTS EXPOSED

Justice Secretary David Lammy has unveiled sweeping reforms that will remove the automatic right to jury trial for any defendant likely to receive a sentence of three years or less.

The change, announced in the House of Commons, marks one of the most significant shifts in criminal procedure for decades and goes far beyond the headline focus on scrapping juries.

Buried within the package lies a quiet but profound empowerment of the magistrates’ courts that could keep thousands of either-way offences away from the Crown Court altogether.

Magistrates will see their maximum sentencing power rise from the current 12 months to 18 months immediately, with the Government explicitly reserving the option to extend this to 24 months if required.

At the same time, defendants will lose the existing right to decline to enter a plea when an offence is first allocated in the magistrates’ court.

Taken together, these measures create powerful new incentives for guilty pleas at the lowest tier and dramatically reduce the number of cases that ever reach the stage where jury trial can be elected.

Most either-way offences – theft, fraud, assault, drugs supply, dangerous driving – currently carry guideline sentences well inside the new three-year ceiling.

Defendants facing up to two years, under the planned extension, will therefore find that even if they fight the case, the penalty can now be imposed entirely by magistrates or a district judge sitting alone.

The practical consequence is stark: the right to jury trial is not being abolished outright for these offences; it is being rendered largely academic by making the magistrates’ court the default destination for determination and sentence.

For cases that do still cross the two-year threshold, but are potentially below a three year sentence the Government will establish a new “bench division” of the Crown Court – branded “swift courts” – where a single judge will hear the trial without a jury.

The Ministry of Justice estimates these judge-only hearings will allegedly take 20 per cent less time than conventional jury trials.

Complex fraud and other lengthy financial cases will also transfer automatically to judge-only procedure.

Appeals from both the enhanced magistrates’ courts and the new bench division will no longer be automatic; defendants must first pass a permission filter based solely on points of law.