US defendants can waive right to jury trial and in Germany jury trials were abolished in 1924

One of the most significant recommendations in a review of the criminal courts in England and Wales, expected to be published this week, is likely to be the scrapping of jury trials for certain offences.

The idea in Sir Brian Leveson’s independent inquiry is that it will help reduce the record backlog in the courts. But for many the right to a jury trial, except for the most minor offences, is synonymous with the right to a fair trial and watering it down would be hugely controversial.