Why is the UK scaling back jury trials, and why is it controversial?

The United Kingdom’s justice secretary, David Lammy, is limiting people’s right to a trial by jury in England and Wales. Under proposals he outlined in parliament on Tuesday, only defendants accused of rape, murder or manslaughter, or cases meeting a defined “public-interest” test, will undergo a jury trial.

Reforms to the justice system include creating a new tier of “swift courts” as part of a plan to tackle unprecedented delays in the court system. New jury-free courts will take on many of the cases normally heard by juries at Crown Courts, which cover serious crimes.

The upshot is that jury trials for defendants facing relatively short custodial sentences – those of up to three years – will be scrapped in England and Wales. The reforms will not extend to Scotland, which has its own