Courtrooms should return to physical sittings as soon as possible with jurors wearing face masks so that urgent cases can be heard, a former Supreme Court president said.
Lady Hale argued her case for courts to convene physically rather than virtually during her contribution to the BBC’s Rethink set of talks about how the world is changing due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The 75-year-old, who recently retired, told host Amol Rajan on today’s episode: ‘A good jury turns into a little community, working together in the interests of justice.
‘This is lost if they are operating remotely or even at a social distance in a courtroom.’
Courtrooms should return to physical sittings with jurors wearing face masks so that urgent cases can be heard, said former Supreme Court president Lady Hale (above). She argued her case for courts to convene physically rather than virtually during her contribution to the BBC’s Rethink set of talks about how the world is changing due to the coronavirus lockdown
All jury trials were halted due to the pandemic, leading to a backlog of more than 37,000 cases.
A handful of crown courts in England and Wales have reopened for trials with strict social distancing measures in place but the majority of hearings are still being held online or having to be postponed.
On the subject of face coverings in court, Lady Hale said on the show: ‘We are reluctant to allow Muslim women to give evidence wearing the niqab – the face veil.
‘I found it easy to tell whether a mother was telling the truth once she had taken off her veil.’
‘But could we allow or require witnesses to wear non-surgical masks which everyone using public transport now has to wear?’
Earlier, Mr Rajan introduced the Rethink programme, saying: ‘To outsiders, the legal system – as represented by the courts – is a forbidding, even scary place.
‘Its strange rituals and dress, frequently grand architecture, unapologetic jargon and clear hierarchies all enforce the distinction between the upholders of the law and those who violate it.
‘Yet in this magisterial defence of those traditions, Lady Hale makes the case for courts that convene physically rather than virtually – while also making the case for gentle reform.’
Among her other points, Lady Hale argued that the gravitas attached to the courtroom is lost if everyone appears remotely on small screens.
She conceded that separating the witness from a cross examiner via video link could make it less intimidating for them.
However, Lady Hale also pointed out that, to some, giving evidence remotely did make the proceedings feel more like ‘television rather than reality’.
All jury trials were halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to a backlog of more than 37,000 cases. (Above, the Old Bailey, in London)
She also proposed a more radical solution to ‘rethink why and when we need a jury trial’ – adding: ‘The great advantage of trial by judge alone is that the judge has to give detailed reasons for his decision. But judges can get case-hardened.
‘Better still might by a judge sitting with two lay people rather like the jurat system in the Channel Islands.’
Among others who have featured on Rethink are Pope Francis, on rethinking poverty, and Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker, on rethinking an environmental revolution.
Britain will make ‘personal rather than geopolitical’ adjustments after coronavirus, says Amol Rajan
As Britain eases itself out of lockdown, adjustments to the new era will be ‘personal rather than geopolitical’, says Amol Rajan.
The BBC’s media editor believes that video conferencing could replace the daily commute, while the nation’s streets may well become happier and healthier as neighbours forge new friendships.
However, he added that post-coronavirus Britain could see political, economic and societal changes to its landscape.
Writing in the Guardian on Monday, he said: ‘Our political parties were founded as responses to a society that doesn’t exist any more.
As Britain eases itself out of lockdown, adjustments to the new era will be ‘personal rather than geopolitical’, says Amol Rajan (pictured)
‘Since 1979, British politics has often felt sequential, not adversarial: New Labour accepted much of Thatcherism; the coalition years were New Labour minus the spare change.
‘Today… political allegiance is driven more by cultural values than socioeconomic interests.’
He touched on the education divide – with ‘graduates pitted against non-graduates in ever more distinct voting blocs and media universes… [which] is not conducive to social harmony’.
Mr Rajan also commented on the ‘alarming trend’ which is seeing workers receiving an ever-smaller share of wealth.