■As noted above, defendants should lose the right to
elect trial by judge and jury. Although jury trial would
continue to be the normal form of trial for indictable
and serious either-way offences in the proposed Crown
Division, trial without a jury would be possible in four
exceptional cases: where the defendant agreed to a
judge-only trial; in serious and complex fraud cases the
judge could try the case with two lay members; a youth
court, consisting of a judge and two youth panel magis-
trates could hear serious cases involving young defend-
ants; and a judge should decide fitness to plead issues.
■There should be greater flexibility in the deployment
of judges, with High Court judges reserved for the
most serious cases.
■There should be greater use of fixed penalty notices,
with a right of challenge in the courts.Part 1Introduction to law
52
Figure 3.2Criminal courts dealing with serious offences