The countries around the world without jury trials

Legal systems in much of continental Europe and Asia do not rely on randomly selected members of the public

Photo illustration of an empty jury box and a 'Sorry we're closed' sign
Jury trials themselves are controversial, and not without concerns of bias and many democracies worldwide do not rely on them at all
(Image credit: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images)

A bedrock of the English justice system is the right to be judged by a group of your peers – a jury. But it is far from the norm worldwide.

As the backlog in the criminal courts continues to impede justice, the government is under pressure to come up with solutions – a task given to a former judge, Brian Leveson. His recommendations include removing the right to be tried by a jury of peers in certain cases. "I don't rejoice in these recommendations, but I do believe they're absolutely essential," he wrote. There is "a real risk of total system collapse in the near future", which could "lead to a breakdown in law and order".

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Harriet Marsden is a writer for The Week, mostly covering UK and global news and politics. Before joining the site, she was a freelance journalist for seven years, specialising in social affairs, gender equality and culture. She worked for The Guardian, The Times and The Independent, and regularly contributed articles to The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The New Statesman, Tortoise Media and Metro, as well as appearing on BBC Radio London, Times Radio and “Woman’s Hour”. She has a master’s in international journalism from City University, London, and was awarded the "journalist-at-large" fellowship by the Local Trust charity in 2021.