The verdict is in People with experience of jury trials respond to proposal to limit them

The justice secretary, David Lammy, has announced sweeping changes to the criminal justice system that will result in a significant cut to the number of jury trials in England and Wales.

- Alexandra Topping

Under the radical plans, juries will be reserved for indictable-only offences such as murder and rape and either-way offences with a likely sentence of more than three years in prison.

While Lammy backed down on plans to remove jury trials for all cases involving a maximum jail term of five years, the move has sparked an outcry from MPs, lawyers and campaigners.

‘The Guardian spoke to people who have seen the work of juries up close about the proposals.

The defendant

Abrar Javid, one of the Rotherham 12, a group who fought with far-right extremists after attending an anti-racism protest in Rotherham and were cleared of violent disorder in 2016.

Javid remembers seeing the jury who would try him and the other men of Pakistani heritage who had been arrested and charged with violent disorder after a clash with Britain First demonstrators.

High-profile grooming gang trials had brought infamy to Rotherham and put a spotlight on its British Pakistani community. Britain First had organised 14 protests in the town over a year. In August 2015 Mushin Ahmed, 81, was murdered in a racist attack.

“As defendants, we were really concerned,” Javid said. “We thought we would be up against a jury with certain stereotypes about Pakistani men from Rotherham, even though we had absolutely nothing to do with the grooming scandal. We thought it was hook, line and sinker, we were done for.”

But over a six-week trial the all-white jury listened carefully, he said. “They seemed quite a good mix of young, old, men, women.” Finally, all 10 men who were on trial were found not guilty. Two men who had already pleaded guilty applied to change their plea and the prosecution offered no evidence against them.