EDM: Right to trial by jury

Right to trial by jury

Tabled by Kim Johnson (Labour) 26 signatures

The motion

This House notes the findings from the Lammy Review of 2018 that shows that Black and Chinese women are found guilty at much higher rates than White women by magistrates, but not by juries; further notes the 2022 Racial Bias and the Bench report, which finds institutional racism amongst the judiciary; further notes the lack of evidence base to support a correlation between jury trials and backlogs in courts; also notes the letter by 100 lawyers to the Secretary of State for Justice that says the abolition of jury trials would not in their view improve the backlog of criminal trials, but simply move the problem into a new arena, which itself would cost significant funds to create and operate; notes that trial by juries is a historic cornerstone of British democracy, a constitutional legacy that is supported across the political spectrum, and is widely understood as a common safeguard against the concentration of power; further notes that the current significant court backlogs are the result of sustained underfunding and neglect, court closures, crumbling buildings and hollowed out legal aid budgets; and calls on the Government not to move forward with Sir Brian Leveson’s proposals to scrap jury trials, and instead invest in the court system to help clear the current significant backlogs.

Signatories (26)