Ministers have proposed to end the right to a jury trial for a vast range of criminal offences in England and Wales, as they grapple with a huge backlog of cases that is delaying hearings by more than a year in many instances.
Under the shake-up, juries would be scrapped for all cases expected to attract a prison sentence of five years or less, with defendants barred from asking for a jury trial, as they can at present for many offences.
Cases that can currently go before either a judge sitting alone or a jury would all be heard in a new “bench division” of crown courts, with a judge sitting alone.
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