Transcript Crown Prosecution Service

Crown Prosecution Service
Introduction
 Responsible
for prosecuting people in
England and Wales who have been
charged with a criminal offence.
 It
was created by the Prosecution of
Offences Act 1985.
 The
head of the Crown Prosecution
Service is the Director of Public
Prosecutions (DPP).
 The
Director is responsible to the
Attorney General (a government
minister) who is responsible to
Parliament for the CPS.
Key duties
 advising
the police on cases for
possible prosecution
 determine the charge in all but minor
cases.
 preparing cases for court
 the presentation of cases at court
 appointing private barristers and
solicitors to present cases at court.
Brief History


Individual police forces had the
responsibility of prosecuting most crimes
until the creation of the CPS.
The 1962 Report of the Royal Commission
on the Police recommended that all police
forces should have their own prosecuting
solicitors’ departments. Not all police
forces acted on this recommendation.
 The
Philips Report 1981:
– The police should not investigate offences and
decide whether to prosecute
– The different police forces around the country
used different standards to decide whether to
prosecute
– The police were allowing too many weak cases
to come to court, which was leading to a high
percentage of judge-directed acquittals.
 The
1982 Home Office White Paper:
An Independent Prosecution Service
for England and Wales argued for a
national prosecution service.
 Parliament
passed the Prosecution of
Offences Act 1985 which created the
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
with the Director of Public
Prosecutions as its head.
Glidewell
 The
Review of the Crown Prosecution
Service (The Glidewell Review) was
published in 1998.
Three key criticisms of the CPS
Criticism One
 There
needed to be a move away
from minor cases in the Magistrates’
Court in order to concentrate on
more serious crime in the Crown
Court.
 Also
it was felt that the CPS did not
get involved enough in presenting its
own cases in the courts.
Criticism Two
 The
organisation, structure and the
management style needed to change
 In
particular, criticisms were made
over the lack of an adequate
electronic case management system
and the absence of a suitable chief
administrator.
Criticism Three
 The
CPS needed to work more
closely with the other criminal justice
agencies and in particular the police.

Criticism was made in particular of
the lack of communication between
the police and the CPS
Response to Glidewell
 The
CPS are now use a ‘statutory
charging arrangement’ whereby they
select what offence to charge an
offender with in all but the most
minor of cases
 The
CPS have ‘CPS Direct’ which is
an out-of-hours telephone service to
provide the police with charging
advice through the night and at
weekends.
 The
CPS now use an electronic case
management system known as
‘COMPASS’.
 The
CPS now has a Chief Executive
to take responsibility for and to
advise the DPP on the administration
and financial management of the
CPS.
 Each
CPS area also has a business
manager to take responsibility for
the effective management of that
area.
 CPS
has begun a policy of increasing
the amount of in-house advocacy it
uses
 The
CPS is trying to improve the
services, information and support
provided to the victims and
witnesses of crime.
 The
CPS is getting involved with
various community groups such as
victim groups and groups
representing minorities.
The Code for Crown Prosecutors
 The
Code for Crown Prosecutors sets
out the basic principles to be
followed by when making charging
and prosecuting decisions.
 The
Code for Crown Prosecutors is
issued by the Director of Public
Prosecutions under the Prosecution
of Offences Act 1985 s.10.
 Crown
Prosecutors also have to
follow additional guidance on
charging a suspect in ‘The Director's
Guidance on Charging’ which the DPP
issues under the Police and Criminal
Evidence Act 1984 s.37A
 Decisions
on both charging and
prosecuting suspects are based on
the Full Code Test outlined in the
Code. There are two parts to this
test:
– The Evidential Stage
– The Public Interest Stage.
 The
evidential test:
– Is there is enough evidence to provide a
“realistic prospect of conviction” ?
– Can the evidence can be used and is it
reliable?
 The
public interest test:
– What factors are there for prosecution?
– What factors are there against
prosecution?
 There
test.
 The
is a third test: the threshold
threshold test is used to decide
whether a suspect can be charged
even though there is not yet enough
evidence to apply the Full Code Test.
The Threshold Test is only applied to
those cases in which it would not be
appropriate to release a suspect on bail
because the suspect represents a
serious bail risk and there is reasonable
suspicion that the offender has
committed an offence and it is in the
public interest to charge that suspect.
 The
defence has the right to
challenge a case for lack of evidence
or an unjustified refusal of bail. Until
the case has met the Full Code Test
there is an increasing likelihood that
the defence will succeed in stopping
a prosecution at an early stage in the
court process. This in effect limits
the use of the Threshold Test.
Organisation
 Operates
under a structure of 42
geographical areas in England and
Wales corresponding with the
boundaries of the police forces of
England and Wales.
 The
CPS London Area covers the
operational boundaries of both City
of London and Metropolitan Police
Forces
 Each
area is headed by a Chief
Crown Prosecutor (CCP).
 Each
area also has an Area Business
Manager who has responsibility for
the administration of the area.
Exercise
What are the advantages and
disadvantages of having an
independent prosecution body such
as the Crown Prosecution Service?
Essay Question
(a) Outline how the Crown
Prosecution Service makes the
decision to prosecute.
(12)
(b) Evaluate the role of the Crown
Prosecution Service in the criminal
justice process.
(13)
Total 25 marks