Bermuda will not be following the UK's lead in abolishing the right to a trial by jury for certain crimes.

Attorney General Lois Browne Evans said planned legislation in Britain to prohibit an automatic right on some charges to elect jury trial would find no favour here.

And she hinted that the courts may need more new judges and magistrates, as well as more modern equipment, in order to deal with the heavy flow of cases.

But Shadow Legislative Affairs Minister John Barritt backed a review of the system which dictated which offences could be dealt with summarily at Magistrates' Court and which could proceed to the Supreme Court.

He said a chance to unclog the "almost collapsing'' legal system would speed up justice for victims, who were often forgotten.

The two lawyers were commenting on proposed new UK legislation, which would hand over the decision making for jury trial election on offences such as theft, burglary, assault and criminal damage to magistrates.

The law is designed to weed out defendants who "work the system'' by delaying cases and demanding jury trials, then often change their plea at the last minute.

Mrs. Browne Evans said she would not be happy in handing over that authority to magistrates, particularly when the current bench was mainly made up of non-Bermudians.

"I believe every Bermudian should have the right to jury trial by their peers,'' she said. "I will not be advising anyone to go down that path.

"And I wouldn't be comfortable with the current magistrates having that power. But it wouldn't make any difference if they were Bermudian magistrates.'' But Mr. Barritt said the Attorney General's comments appeared to be a backward step.

He said the Criminal Code still included the possibility of electing jury trial for offences such as breaking and entering, some assaults, carrying offensive weapons and escaping from custody.

"I wouldn't be averse to some sort of review that led to this decision by the UK Government. It is long overdue,'' he said.

The Shadow Minister added it was accepted that many local defence laywers know that the system can be abused by electing jury trial, and delaying cases for months and sometimes years.

Victims should also be considered, he said, adding that "justice delayed is justice denied''.

"I am not just thinking about the defendants, but the victims,'' Mr. Barritt said. "It wouldn't hurt to look at the system from the victims' point of view.

"Whatever we do will put a burden on the Supreme Court or magistrates, at the moment the system is not just creaking -- it is almost collapsing.'' Mr. Barritt said one option could be to add an extra magistrate just to deal with civil cases, freeing up the remaining benches to process the criminal matters.

Last year, UK Home Secretary Jack Straw said British courts logged 18,500 cases of the type that would be affected by the legislation, in which defendants demanded jury trials.

"In many of these, the defendants changed their plea to guilty when they appeared in court,'' he said.