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| Sunday, 14 July 2002 |
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UK to increase trial without jury, say newspapers LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) - Britain will expand the use of trial without jury in order to increase conviction rates under proposals to be published next week, newspapers reported on Saturday. A government "White Paper" on the criminal justice system proposes that judges sit alone in trials where they fear a jury might be subject to intimidation, as well as in cases of complex fraud, the Independent newspaper said. Some 30,000 cases were abandoned in 2001 because victims and witnesses refused or failed to give evidence in court, according to a draft of the proposals, the paper said. Magistrates, who already sit alone, will have the maximum sentence they can impose doubled to 12 months, adding the number of cases heard without jury. A Home Office (interior ministry) spokeswoman declined to comment on the reports. Crime has become a burning political issue in Britain, with street crime soaring 28 percent in the 12 months to April 2002, according to government figures released on Friday. "The principles remain sacrosanct that an individual is innocent until proven guilty," the Times quoted the draft as saying. "But we will not tolerate abuse and obstruction of the system and we will not allow the process to be treated as a game of snakes and ladders by the defence as a tactic to get the defendant off." The government also plans to make juries more representative by scrapping exemptions which have let professionals avoid jury duty, the paper added. Doctors, dentists and even judges would have to serve on juries under the proposals. |
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