Our justice system is in crisis, so why not abolish jury trials? | Simon Jenkins

With a huge backlog of cases due to Covid, it’s a chance to reform archaic and irrelevant court rituals

A crisis can often be an opportunity. According to figures out this week, the court system in England and Wales is approaching collapse. Unlike hospitals and schools, courtrooms get no publicity.

The Covid pandemic has led to a reported buildup of 457,000 criminal cases, an increase of about 100,000 since the pandemic began. More than half of England and Wales’s 410 courthouses are reported to b...