A note from the Leader on the right to jury trial

Malcolm Swift QC
17 Oct 1999
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THE RIGHT TO JURY TRIAL

A Note to whom it may concern 
from the Leader of the North Eastern Circuit

  1. I am becoming increasingly concerned at the use being made by those who wish to reduce the incidence of jury trial of the statistic which indicates that about 70% of Defendants who elect trial or who are sent for trial at the Crown Court in the result plead guilty. For the reasons which follow, the use of this bare statistic as a reason to deprive the Defendant of the right to jury trial is at best misleading and at worst a deliberate manipulation of the figures.
  2. It is first important to remove from the statistic those cases in which the Defendant may not plead guilty in the Magistrates Court.
  3. It is also important to remember that "cracked trials" (an expression which carries unjustified connotations) account for about 40% of all Crown Court case outcomes.
  4. It is necessary in all other cases to examine the reasons for the plea of guilty. It is rare in the experience of all barristers practising on the North Eastern Circuit that a Defendant pleads guilty to all charges upon which he was committed for trial. This is because:
    1. The Indictment may not reflect the committal charges.
    2. Alternatives charges may be offered by the Crown which were not available at the lower court.
    3. The pleas may be offered on a compromise basis not available at the lower court.
    4. The Judge may intervene to alter the attitude of the prosecution to lesser pleas offered by the Defendant.
    5. New evidence may have emerged and been served since Committal. This is a frequent reason for a change of plea.
    6. Mitigating circumstances may have arisen since Committal which influence the Defendant to plead guilty.
  5. Before the bare statistic is used further to promote abolition or reduction in jury trial, further analysis of the statistic is needed in order to discover whether the election by the Defendant of jury trial is in fact being misused by him or whether the truth is that there are other factors which occasion the eventual plea which are not operative at the stage at which the case is transferred to the Crown Court.

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Malcolm Swift QC
17th October 1999