“Trials are a fundamental part of our democratic settlement… Criminal trials without juries are a bad idea.” (David Lammy, 2020)
Now, there are a few reliable truths in life. But one truth that you can count upon is that if David Lammy has ever shared a certain view, it is guaranteed that, sooner or later, he will betray this view entirely.
And so it came as little surprise when rumblings began from within the government that David Lammy, now Justice Secretary, was planning to scrap juries in criminal court cases, barring serious cases like murder and rape.
Clearly, this “bad idea” started to look pretty good once Lammy was the one in the drivers’ seat – and confronted with the realities of “our democratic settlement”.
Jury trials are a fundamental part of our democratic settlement. Criminal trials without juries are a bad idea.
The Government need to pull their finger out and acquire empty public buildings across the country to make sure these can happen in a way that is safe.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) June 20, 2020
Judicial system in crisis
Another truth in this world is that this Labour government, despite its massive majority on paper, remains incredibly fractured and weak in practice. Starmer and co. are not actually able to pull off any attack on democratic rights they wish.
And so after these plans came to light – and were deemed a “massive mistake” by a portion of the party’s own MPs – Lammy has, naturally, changed tack again.
Although he hasn’t given up on his bright idea altogether, he has watered down his plans to reduce the use of juries for most cases, rather than ruling them out.
While the Justice Secretary clearly has his own ulterior motives in wanting to streamline the legal system with jury-free court cases – fast-tracking repression and appearing ‘tough on crime’ – it is undeniable that there is a deep crisis within Britain’s judicial system: namely, that it is clogged full of cases.
Currently, around 80,000 cases are waiting to be heard in court. This means that, at present, those at the back of the queue will be waiting until at least 2029.
Labour say this is an issue of people ‘playing’ the system; delaying their hearings by choosing jury trials, so their victims will give up on their chance of justice.
However, this is very different to the view held by the actual lawyers working these cases. “The current backlog is not caused by defendants choosing jury trials,” says Jason Lartey, president of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association.
Rather, he states: “It is the predictable outcome of years of systemic neglect, chronic underfunding, repeated court closures, a lack of investment in court infrastructure, and severe shortages of judges, staff, advocates, and probation officers.”
Need for repression
Years of austerity – the strain of which was massively exacerbated by the Covid pandemic – have left the British legal system crumbling under the weight of the immense workload piled upon it.
The whole British state has been stretched thin, left cashstrapped, understaffed, and overloaded.
Increasingly, the legal system finds itself unable to do the job the ruling class needs it to do; preoccupied with court backlogs and overflowing prisons, there is no time left to disguise the harsh reality of the capitalist state’s rule.
This poses a problem for Labour, as they are reliant on the police and the courts to implement their draconian repression against those who trying to take a stand against the genocide in Gaza.
Another part of Lammy’s calculation is that juries – made up of ordinary members of the public – are often unreliable, because they tend to hold similar views as the rest of the public!
This often throws a spanner in the works when it comes to carrying out repression, especially in cases where the defendants are anti-war and climate activists.
There’s a whole string of XR and Greenpeace protestors who’ve been acquitted for criminal damage in recent years, alongside the ‘Colston Four’ who toppled the statue of slave trader Edward Colston during the 2020 BLM protests. Palestine Action protestors were acquitted for similar offences against Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit last year.
Such acquittals are deeply embarrassing for the British state, especially with Starmer’s Labour keen to brandish its ‘law and order’ credentials.
With the cracks beginning to show, the government is stepping in to steer things their way – even before the juries even get an overhaul.
Last month, in an unprecedented move, the Ministry of Justice intervened in a Palestine Action case to replace the judge, who is said to be “widely respected for his fairness and independence”, with a hand-picked panel. ‘No comment,’ the Ministry effectively told the media, when asked why they had chosen to step in.
So much for the right to a fair trial! We’re told that the judiciary isn’t meant to be political – however, when push comes to shove, they can’t afford to keep up that facade when they want to use the stick against protestors.
Blunted tools
Even if they managed to get prisoners behind bars, there is no certainty that the state could keep them there. Prisons are at a breaking point, too.
The prison population has ballooned to over 85,000 and is on its way to 100,000, causing widespread overcrowding issues and administrative mayhem.
Twelve prisoners have been mistakenly released in recent weeks, with two of them still at large. The number of prisoners released due to an error have gone up 128 percent this year alone.
They can’t even find the Palestine Action activist – a supposed ‘terrorist’ – who went on the run after being allowed to go to his sister’s wedding! What a sorry state of affairs for the ruling class.
Labour finds itself being squeezed by the demands of the bankers to cut public spending, all while knowing in doing so that they cut the legs from underneath them by hollowing out the arms of the state.
These tools with which the ruling class represses the working class are as a result becoming ever more blunted.
The proposed move to scrap juries was an attempt to kill two birds with one stone: the overarching aim is to fix the backlog that is crippling the legal system; but this also presented an opportunity to fast track the repression of activists through the backdoor, and avoid potentially embarrassing acquittals.
But, as with seemingly everything Starmer’s government does, this move has provoked a backlash – both from the public and from members of the legal establishment itself – forcing Lammy to scale back some of his plans.
No matter how Lammy tweaks this or that aspect of the judicial system, it will continue sinking deeper into crisis. The austerity produced by capitalism has at the same time eroded the state’s ability to uphold the status quo. The ruling class has no one to blame but themselves.
Democratic rights
The democratic rights and freedoms once upheld as pillars of liberal capitalist society are now under attack from the establishment itself. The only way we can protect our democratic rights, including the right to a fair trial and access to legal aid, is through struggle.
But we are under no illusions that the courts can ever deliver real justice.
From the unelected judges that do the bidding of politicians, to the police forces with no accountability, to the complete lack of legal aid for the poorest in society – this is an apparatus made by the ruling class, for the ruling class.
Workers deserve a system that doesn’t have violence and repression baked into it. They deserve to feel safe in their communities – and to know that those who carry out justice are cut from the same cloth, are accountable to society, and have the interests of workers and ordinary people at heart.
This requires tearing down the entire capitalist state, and building a completely new type of state – one that serves the working class.
