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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent

Why does MoJ want to curtail jury trials in England and Wales?

Judges in wigs and black and purple robes pose for a photograph outside
Judges take part in a Rule of Law service, which dates back to Magna Carta in 1215, at Salisbury Cathedral in March. Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty

The courts minister, Sarah Sackman, has said the government plans to press ahead with radical proposals by Sir Brian Leveson to take thousands of trials in England and Wales away from the jury system to be heard instead by judges and magistrates. What is the reason for these changes, how would they work and why are they controversial?

Why change the jury system?

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