The courts backlog is set to fall, even though plans to limit jury trials have been abandoned, Justice Secretary Alex Norris has informed the BBC. Norris explained that introducing legislation for judge-only trials was always a complex undertaking and would have hindered the pace of reforms.

This decision represents a shift from proposals introduced by the previous government, which aimed to allow judges to solely decide cases where the potential sentence was less than three years. The Ministry of Justice now indicates that only complex fraud and financial offenses would be subject to judge-only trials, with thousands of medium-level crimes proposed to remain with volunteer magistrates, who typically sit without a jury.

Norris told BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the backlog would begin to decrease within the current parliamentary term, though he did not specify the extent of the reduction. He expressed confidence that significant progress would be made over the next decade due to the implemented changes.

The Conservative party hailed the decision as a victory for those defending the right to trial by jury. Meanwhile, criminal lawyers welcomed the move but raised concerns about the potential implications of removing a defendant's right to request a jury trial. The Criminal Bar Association warned that this could lead to more middle-ranking cases being heard by magistrates, potentially shifting around 25,000 cases annually to magistrates' courts.

Former Justice Secretary David Lammy had initially announced the proposals to curtail jury trials in December, following recommendations from a comprehensive review of the court system in England and Wales. These reforms, including scaling back jury trials, were presented as the most effective strategy to address record backlogs, which in turn were exacerbating the prison population crisis.

The current courts backlog, responsible for significant delays for both defendants and victims, stands at nearly 81,000 cases. This figure has surged due to factors including pre-pandemic budget cuts and court closures during national lockdowns. Official projections had estimated the backlog could reach 100,000 cases before the next general election, and potentially double that number by 2035 in a worst-case scenario.

However, there are indications that the backlog is now stabilizing, following the government's commitment of unlimited funding to increase the number of judges presiding in underutilized courts. Under the original proposals, the intention was to reserve jury trials for the most serious indictable offenses, such as murder and rape, which are always heard in the Crown Court.

Less serious offenses with potential sentences of no more than three years were intended to be decided by a judge alone in the Crown Court. Furthermore, even less serious offenses would have remained in magistrates' courts, thereby removing the defendant's right to opt for a jury trial, which they might perceive as their best chance of acquittal. These proposals had sparked considerable opposition within the criminal justice community, with many arguing that reducing the 800-year-old right to trial by jury would not effectively resolve the backlogs.