Non-Jury Trials

Jury trials are under threat in England and Wales following the announcement of a review into the criminal courts, to be led by Sir Brian Leveson. Newly released statistics show that the Crown Court backlog has reached a record high.

The Northern Ireland Office has launched a public consultation on the continued use of non-jury trials in Northern Ireland. The non-jury trial provisions of the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 are due to expire in July 2025 unless they are extended for a further two years.

Professor Donncha O’Connell and Dr Alan Greene explain their decision to dissent from the majority on the independent review of the laws underpinning the operation of the Special Criminal Court. Political supporters of the Special Criminal Court stoutly heralded the recent acquittal of Gerard

A long-awaited independent review has called for the Special Criminal Court to be replaced with a new, permanent non-jury court — while a dissenting minority has called for it to be scrapped altogether.

Two diverging reports on the future of the non-jury Special Criminal Court are set to be published after the independent review group headed by Mr Justice Michael Peart failed to reach a consensus. Mr Justice Peart, who retired from the Court of Appeal in 2019, was appointed in February 2021 to chai

Legislation allowing for non-jury trials in Northern Ireland should be renewed for the eighth time, the UK government has said. The Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 allows for the Director of Public Prosecutions to direct that a specific Crown Court trial be conducted without a jury

Most rape trials in France will take place without juries under a widely-opposed cost-saving reform that undoes a change instituted by the 1789 revolution. All cases involving crimes with maximum sentences of between 15 and 20 years will be tried by courts of five judges rather than three judges and

Ministers have agreed to a further 12-month renewal of the legislation underpinning the prosecution of terrorism and organised crime offences in the non-jury Special Criminal Court. The long-term future of the laws are currently being considered by an independent review group headed by Mr Justice Mi

The High Court has refused a judicial review application by two accused to prohibit their trial in the Special Criminal Court. The applicants argued that the SCC was a temporary and emergency mechanism but had become a de facto permanent court in the Irish system. As such, it was argued that the con

A high-profile US lawyer who represented Guantanamo Bay detainees and NSA whistleblower Chelsea Manning will argue for the abolition of Ireland's Special Criminal Court at an online event next week. Nancy Hollander will be joined on a panel by Osgur Breatnach, who was wrongly convicted in the Specia

The Special Criminal Court was wrong to exclude the belief evidence of a Garda chief superintendent on the basis that he would not provide information on the basis of his belief, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The non-jury court had, in the trial of two men charged with IRA membership, excluded beli

The non-jury Special Criminal Court should be abolished, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has recommended. The human rights watchdog said the State should declare that the ordinary courts are adequate to secure the effective administration of justice and the preservation of public peac

An anonymised jury could be used in the Special Criminal Court (SCC), it has been suggested. The option is among a number of alternatives to abolishing the controversial court, the Irish Examiner reports.

There are insufficient safeguards around the use of Garda belief evidence in the Special Criminal Court, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has said. The Commission has published written legal submissions to the Court of Criminal Appeal in exercise of its amicus curiae function in a sign

Legislation allowing for certain Crown Court trials in Northern Ireland to be heard without a jury will be renewed for what ministers hope will be the last time, the government has said. The House of Lords yesterday approved an Order extending the non-jury provisions of the Justice and Security (Nor