The ex-criminal justice head responded to concerns from legal bodies and lawyers
Former UK criminal justice head Brian Leveson is standing by his recommendation to cut down jury trials in the UK as a way to reduce Crown court backlog, reported the Law Society Gazette.
Responding to feedback from the Bar Council, Law Society and lawyers, Leveson said that while everyone was entitled to a fair trial, magistrates oversee the majority of cases without facing concerns about unfairness.
“I’m a barrister by training. I have spent 55 years as a criminal lawyer. I believe in the system, but the system cannot survive as it presently is. What I have said to the Bar Council and Law Society and others who say ‘more money and sitting days will solve this’, it will not,” he told the House of Commons justice select committee in a statement published by the Gazette.
Leveson indicated that while he was not opposed to juries, there were “far too many ineffective cases” due to a lack of prosecutors or defence lawyers in court, which undermined the Bar Council’s recommendation to increase sitting days. He pointed out that current cases were too complex to handle in less than a day.
“So in increasing sitting days, you are going to increase the number of cases where there is no barrister or solicitor in court available to prosecute or defend the cases. Just increasing the number of sitting days does not get you over the line,” he said in a statement published by the Gazette.
He told the House of Commons justice select committee in a statement published by the Gazette that ignoring the “broad thrust” of the suggestions made in his review would risk the collapse of the criminal justice system as it was currently. He called for “wholesale systemic reform” as he gave evidence to the committee on the first part of his review; nonetheless, he indicated that he had no control over the timing of the government’s response.
