Verdicts via video: juries to judge cases remotely to combat backlog
Law change will let jurors in England and Wales use camera links in a bid to clear record 57,000 trials
JURIES are to be allowed to hear cases remotely for the first time in England and Wales as the backlog of trials rose yesterday to a record 57,000.
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is to change the law to allow criminal courts to ditch jury boxes and allow jurors to hear cases via a video link from another “socially distanced” venue.
The move has already proved effective in Scotland where juries have been able to hear evidence and give their verdict on cases remotely from a cinema.
The move is seen as a “last resort” measure if other tactics fail to bring down the soaring backlog of crown court cases.
MOJ figures yesterday showed the crown court backlog has risen by 47 per cent since the beginning of the pandemic to 57,625, overtaking the previous high of 55,000 in 2015. It has led to concerns that cases are being delayed for as long as three years, with some scheduled to be heard in 2023.
About 60 temporary “Nightingale” court rooms will be up and running by the end of next week as part of a £113 million programme to reduce the pandemic-induced backlog.
Other measures include a 40-fold increase in the use of remote non-jury hearings, an extra 1,600 court staff, and on-site safety precautions such as plexiglass screens.
An MOJ impact assessment of the expansion of virtual technology said it could be used to “give the courts more flexibility around when and how live links can be used now and in the future as technology develops”.
It added: “This would make it possible in the future, for example, for a jury, sitting collectively, to participate in a trial by ‘live video link’ where the court considered this appropriate.
“Remote participation by a jury would only be considered at the discretion of the trial judge where there is good and sufficient reason to operate in this way.”
The impact assessment lays out that juries could be in another room of the courthouse where the trial is being held, or even in a different building entirely.
James Mulholland QC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, warned that the courts system is at a “tipping point” where it might not be able to reverse the growing backlog without further measures.
He called for an even bigger expansion
‘These simple, affordable solutions will ensure timely justice for individuals abandoned for years’
of “Nightingale” courts and for the Government to increase by 50 per cent the number of crown court sitting days that it will fund to 120,000 for at least the next two years.
“We need more remote hearings for administrative proceedings provided there is no prejudice to justice by the legal representatives and defendant being absent from the courtroom, in order to maintain the priority of physical court room capacity for the holding of in-person jury trials,” he said.
“These simple, affordable solutions will ensure timely justice for the many members of the public compelled to travel through our courts as complainants, victims and witnesses or those accused of crime — individuals abandoned for years while the criminal proceedings in which they are involved are left in limbo.”