AULD CRITICS TAKE AIM

The legal profession has voiced its scepticism towards elements of Lord Justice Auld's criminal court review in their responses to the consultation, which closed last week.The proposal to curb the right to jury trial has unsurprisingly attracted the most criticism, but other issues also caused consternation.The Law Society said: 'We oppose the recommendation that juries should not be able to acquit a defendant in defiance of the law or evidence.

One of the principles of lay involvement in the criminal justice system is to bring democratic and social norms to the making of judgements of right or wrong.'The Society also criticised the idea of routine admission of a defendant's previous convictions as 'there is a danger they would distract from the facts of the case being tried'.

But it supported proposals to abolish exemption from jury service and to decriminalise offences such as TV licence evasion and council tax default.Society President David McIntosh praised the attempt to set out a coherent programme of reform, and called for the government to publish a white paper to allow for more consultation before the proposed legislation expected in 2003.A response jointly drafted by the Bar Council and Criminal Bar Association supported revealing to defendants what sentence they would receive if they plead guilty, and the extension of jury service.

It too did not want to prevent juries returning 'perverse' verdicts.Both the Legal Action Group and human rights group Liberty criticised the report for failing to set the overall objectives of the criminal justice system.Andrew Towler