Andy Burnham signals he will scrap plans to curb jury trials
Summary
Andy Burnham, the prime minister of England and Wales, has said he will drop plans to reduce the use of jury trials in criminal cases. He expressed concerns based on his past experience and wants to keep juries as part of the justice system. This marks a change from earlier plans by justice officials to limit jury trials to help clear court backlogs.Key Facts
- Andy Burnham wants to stop the plan to reduce jury trials in England and Wales.
- He has concerns because of his experience with the Hillsborough disaster case.
- The plan would have ended jury trials for cases with sentences of three years or less.
- The goal of the original plan was to reduce court delays caused by nearly 80,000 pending trials.
- Some Labour MPs and legal groups strongly opposed the plan.
- The plan included letting magistrates handle longer sentences and creating judge-only courts for some cases.
- Burnham is working to allow some suspended Labour MPs back into the party.
- Ministers said the changes aimed to cut jury trials in half and address court delays from the Covid pandemic.
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