Barrister warns of strain on legal system as jury trials are halted
ONE OF Yorkshire’s leading barristers has called for urgent technological changes to be made to maintain the rule of law during the coronavirus crisis.
Richard Wright QC said temporarily scrapping jury trials and a drastic reduction in the number of cases being dealt with in the criminal courts was putting major pressure on a legal system already creaking from lack of investment.
Mr Wright, leader of the North Eastern Circuit, spoke after lawyers across England and Wales were told “do not go to court” as stricter measures were imposed in an effort to halt the spread of Covid-19.
On Monday Mr Wright sent an e-mail to barristers stating: “DO NOT attend court tomorrow for any hearing. If you need to conduct a hearing tomorrow
The QC said that in the short term we can manage without doing jury trials.
do so remotely.” Mr Wright told
he hoped the short-term solutions that must be found over the months ahead would be the catalyst for longterm change in the way the courts operated.
He said: “In the short term we can manage without doing jury trials.
“But the problem is the Government has deliberately run down the number of sitting days in the Crown Court for year on year.
“That means the delay for people waiting for jury trial is very long.
“In a bail case we are talking about the date between pleading not guilty and having a trial is now 11 to 12 months.
“There is already a massive backlog in the system and this will simply back that up further unless a practical solution is found.
“No one could have predicted coronavirus but we all could have predicted cutting the criminal justice system to its core.
“It means it’s a system that cannot cope well with extra pressure.
“The individuals cope very well with pressure – it’s what we do all the time – but the system can’t.”