David Lammy is right to slash the use of juries – it’s an open-and-shut case

‘The only people who love juries are barristers … juries are their audience and their bread and butter.’ Lady Justice atop the Old Bailey, London. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Juries are an archaic and inefficient feature of Britain’s collapsing justice system. They survive only in some English-speaking countries as quaint relics of medieval jurisprudence. They deserve dispatch to the world of ducking, flogging, drawing and quartering.

As it is, criminal courts have built up a hopeless backlog in England and Wales of almost 80,000 cases, with some hearings postponed to 2029. A surge in rape cases has led to a two-year delay, with twice the number of complainants withdrawing as five years ago. Britain’s prison population threatens to break the 100,000 barrier, or twice its size in the 1990s. These are not just convicts. A fifth of cells contain remand prisoners spending months awaiting trial. This is a parody of justice.