Thugs, thieves and drug dealers could avoid court under radical plans to ease justice system backlog
Offenders may avoid a criminal record and instead be sentenced to do unpaid work or get rehabilitation, it is proposed.
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Sentences could be cut by 40 per cent, up from a third now, with an early guilty plea.
Jury trials would be scrapped for some drug dealers and sex offenders with a judge and two magistrates presiding instead.
They could impose sentences of up to three years' jail.
The maximum penalty JPs could hand down would double to two years.
The shake-up, proposed in a report for the Government by retired judge Sir Brian Leveson, is an attempt to tackle the current backlog of 77,000 crown court cases.
It has seen trial dates pushed back as far as 2029.
Sir Brian said without the reforms there would be a 'breakdown in law and order' with 'society taking things into their own hands'.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said 'criminals like burglars and some killers will serve just a fifth of their sentences. That makes a mockery of our justice system.'
Victims' Commissioner Baroness Newlove warned higher guilty plea discounts and out-of-court disposals 'will feel like justice diluted again'.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has yet to announce which recommendations she will accept.
First convicts leave Barlinnie after Scottish Government release 360 prisoners early due to overcrowding
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