Alex Norris scraps judge-only trials as court backlog set to keep rising

Justice Secretary scraps judge-only trial plan

The Justice Secretary, Alex Norris, has dropped plans to let judges decide many criminal cases without a jury in England and Wales. The proposal was introduced under former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and would have allowed a judge alone to decide cases carrying a sentence of less than three years in the Crown Court. Ministers said it was needed to cut a record backlog. Critics called it an unjustified erosion of the ancient right to trial by jury and said it would not solve delays.

Under the revised approach, only complex fraud and financial offences will be heard by a judge alone. Other parts of the courts reform package remain. The government still plans to remove the right of defendants in either-way cases to choose a Crown Court trial, so the court decides where a case is heard. It also wants to restrict some appeals from magistrates to the Crown Court and to double magistrates' sentencing powers to two years. Ministers say this will move around 25,000 cases a year, including about 5,500 jury trials, out of the Crown Court and deal with them more quickly.

Alex Norris said he had listened to the strength of feeling against judge-only trials. He argued that removing the most complicated element would let the rest of the package be implemented sooner. He told Laura Kuenssberg that the backlog is over 80,000 and would reach 100,000 in this Parliament without action. He refused to give a date for when the backlog would start falling. He said cases would continue to rise until legislation passed and was implemented, then fall significantly over the next decade. He promised to publish an impact assessment.

Legal bodies welcomed the U-turn. Andrew Thomas KC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, said the profession was absolutely delighted and that justice needs juries. He said nothing inspires more public trust than 12 ordinary citizens from all walks of life deciding the facts of a case together. Kirsty Brimelow KC, chair of the Bar Council, called juries a constitutional safeguard and said people have confidence in them. But she warned that moving more cases to magistrates courts would add pressure to a system already struggling. She said magistrates are not equipped for more serious, complex or sensitive cases, and that victims can have a worse experience there because of a lack of special measures.

The Conservative Party called the decision a major victory for those who fought to defend fair trial rights. Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy said jury trials are an ancient right and that the government was coming to its senses. The Victims' Commissioner raised a different concern, saying victims were now being told to put faith in a plan that the previous government had said would not be enough. Some rape survivors told reporters that delays could make victims drop out of cases. One said rape victims are waiting up to nine years for trial.

The court backlog remains central. Crown Court cases have reached about 81,000, more than double the level before the pandemic. Almost a third of people have waited a year or more. The government says new technology, extra investment, more judge sitting days and prioritising cases with a real human impact will help. Critics say the changes still risk limiting jury trial rights by another route and that the magistrates courts cannot absorb the extra work without more resources.

The decision comes as the early prisoner release scheme faces warnings. About 700 prisoners were released early this week to ease overcrowding, the third such release in three years. Around 4,500 to 5,000 offenders are expected to be freed by next summer. Ministers say they are subject to the strongest licence conditions ever, with a presumption that they will be tagged and 700 million pounds extra for probation. But Alex Norris could not say how many of those released since Thursday had been tagged.

The probation union NAPO said its members are under extreme pressure, with average caseloads as high as 130 to 150 per cent because of vacancies. It warned that tagging may not be possible for everyone and pointed to existing failures: more than 5,000 offenders who should have been tagged were not, and more than 1,500 people who were meant to have a tag as a condition of release did not. The union said public safety is already being compromised and that members might strike. Victims of domestic abuse have said they fear former partners being released without close monitoring.

The courts and tribunals bill is due back in Parliament later this month. The government says the revised package will still deliver faster justice. Barristers, magistrates, probation staff and victims' groups say the system remains close to breaking point, and that the row over jury trials and early release is far from over.