Fraud (Trials without a Jury) Bill

My Lords, I am not a lawyer either, but I have been called for jury service on two occasions. Because of that, I have an interest in jury trials and therefore a deep concern about the Bill. I have to make it clear that I do not have a sentimental view about juries, but I do know that most of the British public are proud to fulfil their civic duty by doing jury service, even when it is most inconvenient for them. I also know that various governments have explored this issue before, and that the Roskill commission in the mid-1980s, as we have heard, recommended a judge and two assessors for some serious fraud trials. However, there were powerful voices on the opposite side too, in particular Lord Devlin, who said in his evidence: "““Trial by jury forms part of the political compromise we have made between arbitrary and popular government. ‘Arbitrary’ in this confrontation means the rule by those, e.g. the judges, who are not answerable to the electorate””." He went on to say: "““Not since the glorious revolution of 1688 has a citizen been imprisoned for any substantial time, ie longer than the short sentence for summary offences, otherwise than on the verdict of a jury””." I wish to make three points. The first is whether this Bill is the best way to remedy the problem of the length and complexity of some serious fraud trials. Surely, it is not only the jury for whom it is a burden, but all those involved, including the trial judge. Arguably, serious fraud is not as stressful on the jury as trials involving the emotions, such as rape or murder. As for complexity, the report on the aborted Jubilee Line trial, about which we have heard so much this afternoon, showed that the jury were fully up to speed on that particular case, in spite of those who hoped that it would vindicate the Government's position. I have recently heard of several serious fraud cases lasting months in which the jury has had up to half a dozen lever-arch files of documents to read, which it has willingly done. Only last week, I heard of a trial with 30,000 documents, in which the judge told me that the jury was completely on top of the issues. If there is no jury in such cases, is it not likely that they will last even longer, as there will be no incentive on the part of either side to cut to the chase, as it were? In a debate on the Roskill proposals in 1986, the late Lord Wigoder QC pointed out that there would be no pressure at all to keep the case simple or clear. My first point is therefore that surely the more difficult job of tackling the length and complexity of cases should be undertaken before the relatively simple and blunt instrument is used to axe jury trial in serious fraud cases. As others have said already, the reforms instituted by the then Lord Chief Justice, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, in March 2005 on the control and management of heavy fraud and other complex criminal cases have hardly been given any time to work, and certainly cannot have had time to be reviewed. Secondly, the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which contains the substance of this Bill, was only passed after the Government offered the famous consultation on this particular part. As we have heard, that turned out to be a hurriedly arranged morning seminar; I remember it well. Considering that this is an important change in the law, I would be interested to hear what consultation the Government have had with bodies such as the Criminal Bar Association. It cannot be right that the Government seek to change the law in this area with so little consensus among law practitioners. My third and last point is that abolishing jury trial for any serious crime is a dangerous step for the Government to take without that consensus. It looks to the man and woman in the street as though the Government do not trust them, as members of a potential jury, to get serious fraud case decisions right. My informal researches among the judges whom I have come across recently have not uncovered any appetite at all for judge-only trials—in fact, just the opposite—and I am sure it was not just to do with their personal safety, which is not something we have heard much about. Their comments have all been remarkably similar—that they believe juries do a good job. One said to me only yesterday, ““Their verdicts, as representatives of society, have a validity which that arrived at by a judge sitting alone, even supported as it would be by a fully reasoned judgment, would lack in the eyes of society as a whole””. Undermining public confidence, even in subtle ways, in our criminal justice system is extremely undesirable. People trust the jury system, even though it may be more costly and time-consuming than any alternative. When the noble and learned Lord the Attorney-General was asked in a radio interview last year whether the Bill was not the thin end of the wedge to abolish jury trial in other cases, I distinctly heard him reply that if it was a wedge, it was the thinnest of all possible wedges. But that is what a wedge has to be in order to be effective. The same rationale that the Government are using in this case could be used to abolish the jury in other cases. After all, other long criminal cases are just as burdensome and complex, as we have heard. Finally, I find the Government's method of getting their way on the Bill oppressive, and I am glad that the combined opposition are planning to act in a robust fashion at the end of the debate.