Debating Matters: ‘Trial by jury should be removed in certain cases’

Partners:

Debating Matters is a sixth-form debating competition that has become renowned for its rigorous and intellectually challenging format – one that values substance over style and getting to grips with real-world issues. This is a one-off showcase debate for the Battle of Ideas festival between students whose challenge is to think through the thorny moral issues at the heart of the motion and the audience is sure to enjoy the high standard of debate.

Trial by jury has long been regarded as central to the idea of ‘the right to a fair trial’, which has been a fundamental legal principle that dates back to Magna Carta. However, due to increasing pressures on the criminal court system, in December 2024, the government commissioned a review to make recommendations on its reform. The review, led by a retired judge, Sir Brian Leveson, recommended a number of reforms to the system – including the removal of jury trials in even more cases.

Under the proposals, many cases now heard by a jury would instead be tried by a judge sitting with two magistrates. Judge-only trials would be allowed in certain serious and complex cases, particularly for very complex fraud. The argument is that justice is not being served if defendants, victims and their families are having to wait a long time for their case to be heard.

Does there need to be a balance between principle and practice? Can we justify reducing the right to trial by jury, a key principle upon which our democracy is based, in order to solve what is essentially a practical problem? Is trial by jury, in the words of Sir Louis Blom-Cooper, ‘a recipe for incompetence and bias’, or in those of Winston Churchill, the ‘supreme protection… for ordinary individuals against the state’?

Students from two schools will debate the issue using the Debating Matters Topic Guide: Trial by jury should be removed in certain cases

COMPETING SCHOOLS

Arguing for – Aylesbury Grammar School

Finley Batchelor
Finley is in Year 12 at Aylesbury Grammar School. He is studying History, Politics and Ancient History along with an EPQ. He hopes to pursue Politics and study History and Politics at university.

Ray Rehman
Ray is a Year 13 at Aylesbury Grammar School in Aylesbury. He is currently studying A levels in Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Psychology. He is looking forward to studying Politics, Philosophy & Economics at university.

Teacher: Nicky Farmborough
Nicky is Head of English at Aylesbury Grammar School. She has been running debating societies in state schools for 15 years and believes that Debating Matters runs the best debating competitions out there, because DM proudly refuses to treat its debates as games to be won or lost; instead, they are opportunities for young people to genuinely engage with ideas.

Arguing against – Cardinal Newman Catholic School, Hove

Noah London
Noah is in Year 13 at Cardinal Newman Sixth Form College in Hove. He is studying Biology, Chemistry, and Philosophy, having completed A level Maths in Year 12. Noah intends to study Biochemistry at university.

Rubhaya Aziz
Rubhaya is in Year 12 studying Business, Classics and Maths. She enjoys exploring others’ points of view and hopes to take an apprenticeship in Business when she leaves college. This is her first experience of Debating Matters.

Teacher: Mr Peter Shears
Peter is a teacher of English at Cardinal Newman Sixth Form College. He believes that entering students for competitions like Debating Matters is essential if we are to equip young people with the skills they need in order to sift fact from fiction in pursuit of truth and justice.