Simon Jenkins’ indictment of jury trial (Here’s a radical way to save England’s collapsing justice system: get rid of juries, 5 May) deserves a damning verdict on a number of counts. He points to the excessive delays afflicting English criminal courts, which he attributes to the 1% of cases that are decided by juries. He provides little evidence for this, while making no mention of the true causes – Covid and chronic underfunding.
There is no evidence that jury trial causes delay in contested cases as opposed to judges sitting alone. Judges would have to provide reasoned arguments for each factual decision (subject to review) and, for this reason, the vast majority of British criminal judges strongly favour jury trial.
