Number of juries isn’t the problem itself. It’s availability of court buildings, lack of legal professionals to try cases in court, cost of staffing and services for those buildings and the increased time it takes to bring a jury trial to court (it takes on average of 284 days for a case to move through the magistrates court and 695 days through the crown court according to the National Audit Office).
This particular proposal, part of a range, is to have an extra tier in the crown court to deal with lower category cases, such as fraud and minor theft cases so that the bigger, more complicated violent crimes, rapes and murders can be prioritised.
Also worth noting, we don’t have right to jury trial enshrined in UK law, only the right to a fair trial. I actually think this could help reduce the issue but the biggest problem is lack of funding.
LadyButterfly@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
It’s getting people who are willing and able to do it. It’s surprisingly hard.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
That’s interesting. You just get paid time off work to sit and play on your phone in a lobby most of the time.
echodot@feddit.uk 1 week ago
No you don’t.
You get paid some money, you don’t get paid your normal salary. Is basically only an advantage if you work at McDonald’s, If you’re lucky your work will let you take it as holiday and still pay you themselves, but I don’t think they’re under any requirement to.
Tweak@feddit.uk 1 week ago
“Paid time off work” =/= time off work at your normal pay. There is a very significant drop in income for most people, down to £70 per day, which is £10 an hour if you work 9-5 with a 1 hour lunch or £7 an hour if you normally work 10 hour days. That last one is less than the under 18 minimum wage.