Responding to the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement on a package of measures in response to Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of Criminal Courts, Bar Council Chair Barbara Mills KC said: “There’s much to be embraced in today’s announcement that recognises the long overdue and desperately needed investment in the criminal justice system and the criminal Bar. But this risks being undermined by proposals that compromise public trust and confidence in our criminal justice system through curtailing jury trials.
“We’re very pleased the government has committed to our manifesto pledge to match-fund criminal pupillages, recognising the acute pressures on the sustainability of the criminal Bar. The additional £34m investment in criminal legal aid fees for the Bar will provide further certainty and must be implemented swiftly. Any uplifts need to be applied equally to defence and prosecution fees to ensure parity and prevent a further widening of the gap between the two sides. The increase in sitting days is welcome but the government should remove the cap entirely so courts can work at full capacity to reduce the backlog. If the cap had previously been removed - as we suggested - the system might not be in the dire situation in which it finds itself.
“None of this progress should be undermined by changing our longstanding system that did not cause the problem in the first place. We have continuously opposed proposals to curtail jury trials because there is no evidence that their removal would reduce the backlog nor has it been set out how an alternative system would be resourced. Replacing juries with a judge alone is not the answer – according to the Institute for Government, few European countries allow lengthy sentences to be passed down by a single judge. And as the Lord Chancellor’s own report in 2017 confirmed, juries enjoy public trust in part because they deliver equitable findings - regardless of ethnicity. We urge the government to reconsider pursuing radical changes under the mistaken belief that radical equals effective.”