Exclusive: Barristers also say offenders could pay compensation to victims, in effort to tackle court backlog

First-time perpetrators of low-level crimes should be diverted from trials by paying compensation to victims or enrolling in rehabilitation to solve the courts crisis, the Bar Council has said.

The government has proposed abandoning jury trials for some offences to tackle the backlog in crown court cases, but the body representing barristers in England and Wales said this was “not a principled response” and would not work.