Justice Commitee

We welcome the Justice Committee’s finding that the automatic right to a rehearing for appeals from the Magistrates’ court to the Crown Court plays an important function in correcting wrongful outcomes. We agree that the Law Commission should be allowed to report back on this issue following its careful consultation. We hope that the government will heed the Justice Committees recommendations on this issue.

APPEAL remains concerned about the wider proposals contained within the Courts and Tribunals Bill particularly in relation to the impact that such changes would have upon children as well as Black and Asian defendants.

We stand with others who continue to call for the Government to scrap the proposals to limit the right to trial by jury.  Justice should not be manipulated or rushed at the risk of causing miscarriages of justice which would result in far greater societal harms.