JURIES IN SERIOUS FRAUD TRIALS

That this House believes that the Government's plan to remove juries in serious fraud trials is misguided; notes that there is no evidence to suggest that it is juries who prolong trials; recognises that the most effective way of reducing the length of complex criminal trials is by utilising active case mangement, which is underlined by both the Criminal Procedure Rules and the Lord Chief Justice's Protocol for the Control and Management of Heavy Fraud and other Complex Criminal Cases; disagrees with the assumption that jurors are incapable of following the evidence when so often the key issue in a fraud trial is whether the defendant's conduct was dishonest or not, an issue which jurors, as ordinary citizens, are qualified to decide; and calls upon the Government to allow time for case management changes to have effect and to honour its promise to bring about any change only after consultation and by primary legislation rather than by seeking to bring section 43 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and trial without a jury into effect.