Seven person jury?
The Labour Party has called for the government to temporarily cut the size of juries from 12 to seven in order to clear the Crown court backlog, which now stands at more than 54,000 cases. However, the legal profession has said the proposal risks undermining justice. The government also poured cold water on the idea.
The shadow justice secretary David Lammy MP said the justice system is facing its ‘gravest crisis since World War Two’ and victims of serious crime are facing delays of up to four years ‘because of the government’s failure to act’.
‘Justice cannot be delayed any further. Labour is calling on the government to tackle the backlog by speeding up the roll-out of Nightingale courts and temporarily introducing wartime juries of seven until the pandemic is over,’ Lammy said.
