Home Secretary Jack Straw is getting flack from virtually everyone over his plan to axe the right of defendants whose case could be heard in either the magistrates' or Crown Court to choose a jury trial. Straw has done a U-turn since his days in opposition when he said that such a reform would be "wrong, short-sighted and likely to prove ineffective". The Bar Council, Law Society and civil liberties groups say the move will disproportionately affect the poor and members of ethnic minorities, who tend to fare worse before magistrates than before juries.
Lawyers fight Straw's bid to axe jury trial
Lawyers, legal groups and academics plan to lobby MPs in a bid to stop Jack Straw pushing through plans to restrict defendants’ rights to a trial by jury. The Home Secretary’s enormous U-turn – which will see magistrates deciding whether “either way” cases should go to Crown Court – has been met by outrage across […]