Justice overhaul will 'save victims torment' - as some cases set to scrap jury trial

Victims volition beryllium enactment "front and centre" successful reforms to beryllium announced this week, the justness caput has said, amid reports assemblage trials volition beryllium scrapped successful immoderate cases.

Sky News understands ministers person already been briefed connected the changes, which would spot a justice determine astir cases connected their ain but for murder, rape oregon manslaughter - oregon those successful the "public interest".

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said the reforms would velocity up justness and prevention victims from "years of torment and delay".

Nearly 80,000 cases are presently waiting to beryllium heard successful crown courts, but a bid to bounds the close to assemblage proceedings is apt to beryllium divisive.

Shadow justness caput Robert Jenrick said Mr Lammy should "pull his digit out" to chopped the backlog alternatively than "depriving British citizens of past liberties".

"The close to beryllium tried by our peers has existed for much than 800 years - it is not to beryllium casually discarded erstwhile the spreadsheets crook red," said Mr Jenrick.

Full details are expected successful the coming days, but successful a connection contiguous Mr Lammy said helium had "inherited a courts emergency; a justness strategy pushed to the brink".

"We volition not let victims to endure the mode they did nether the past government, we indispensable enactment victims beforehand and centre of the justness system," helium added.

Mr Lammy said thousands of lives were connected clasp owed to the lawsuit backlog, a "rape unfortunate being told their lawsuit won't travel earlier a tribunal until 2029. A parent who has mislaid a kid astatine the hands of a unsafe driver, waiting to spot justness done".

He said helium wanted a strategy that "finally gives brave survivors the justness they deserve".

.However, it's been reported Mr Lammy volition spell further than a reappraisal conducted by Sir Brian Leveson.

The retired justice backed the determination for juries lone successful the astir superior cases, but besides projected immoderate lesser offences could spell to a caller intermediate tribunal wherever a justice would beryllium joined by 2 laic magistrates.

The Times said Mr Lammy had suggested successful an interior memo helium would region the laic constituent from galore superior offences that transportation sentences of up to 5 years.

There are fears specified a determination could summation miscarriages of justness and radical discrimination.

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Speaking to Sky News' Politics Hub programme this week, enactment and pensions caput Pat McFadden did not contradict the changes were connected the way.

The MoJ has laid the crushed for the reforms by saying the tribunal backlog could deed 100,000 by 2028 nether the existent system.

It said conscionable 3% of cases are presently decided by a jury, with much than 90% already dealt with by magistrates alone.