No Jury of Your Peers

British Justice Secretary David Lammy has proposed ending jury trials for most criminal cases, reserving them only for rape, murder, manslaughter, or other “public interest” offenses. Cases that currently go before juries would instead be handled by a new judge-only “bench division.” The ministry cites a backlog of over 78,000 cases, and Lammy says judge-only trials would reduce delays for victims and defendants. But many lawyers warn the change would erode a foundational safeguard of the justice system and say the backlog stems from chronic underfunding of the judicial system rather than jury trials.