Presentation discussing whether the CPS is successful

2. To what extent has the establishment of
a separate Crown Prosecution Service
been successful, and why?
Daria, Katie, Rebecca

3. This is the argument we are putting forward throughout this
presentation

4. Contents
• Definitions
• Context
• Facts and Figures
• Theory
• Independency
• Interdependency
• CPS & Convictions
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

5. Definitions and Acronyms
• Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
• Success
• Models
▫ Justice
▫ Punishment
▫ Management of crime and criminals (Packer; 1968, King; 1981:
13 in Davies, Croall and Tyler; 2005:26)
• Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)
• Her Majesty‟s Crown Prosecution Service
Inspectorate (HMCPSI)
• Royal Commission of Criminal Procedure (RCCP)

6. Context
• Thatcherite thinking
• Pre-1985
• 1980s – the turning point (CPS: 2012)
• Glidewell Report 1998 (Adams: 1998)
• Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate Act
2000 (HMCPSI: 2012)

7. Facts and Figures
• Annual expenditure £568 million
• Employs 7,800+
• Prosecuted 1.25 million for criminal offences
(2004-05)
▫ 92% Magistrates‟ Court (National Audit Office; 2006)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Convictions Unsuccessful Prosecutions
Percentage(%)
Comparison of Convictions and Unsuccessful
Prosecutions for a Number of Offences
Homicide
Offences Against the
Persons
Public Order
Sexual Offences
Drug Offences
Motoring
(Data.gov.uk; 2012)
62%
16%
7%
4%
2%
3%
2% 2% 2%
Criminal Justice System expenditure 1999/2000
Police
Prision Service
Criminal Legal Aid
Probation Service
Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud
Office
Magistrates' Courts
Other
Criminal Injuries Compensation and Victim
Support
Crown Court
(Home Office; 1999:70)

8. Theory
Right
Realism
Classism and
Neo-
Conservativism
Neo-
Liberalism

9. Has the CPS maintained its independence from the police?

10. Job Well Done?
• Sufficient evidence
• Public interest
• Can they succeed at these independent of the
police?

11. CPS as a bridge
• „...bridge between police investigation and
criminal courts...‟ (McConville & Wilson; 2002:9)
• Dropped 10-20% cases presented by police
▫ 39% due to lack of sufficient evidence
▫ 35% witness unreliability (Home Office: 1994)
• Does that mean it is successful in fulfilling its
purpose?

12. Powerful and uninfluenced?
• Bias in the CJS is „imported through police
“clues”‟ (Duff; 1997:37)
• Independence as sovereign „dependent on police
raw material... the more refined, greater police
influence‟ (Mansfield; 1987 in Saunders; 1988:520)
• Has the bridge been tampered with?

14. Inspecting the inspectors
• HMCPSI „more proactive in seeking information
and trying to build a case‟ (Brown et al; 2007:356)
• Inspectorate found discontinuance because:
▫ 24% on public interest grounds
▫ 25% of cases had delays in decision over
discontinuance (Ashworth and Redmayne, 2010: 213)

15. Neo-liberal Agendas
• Anglo-Capitalism and free markets
• Home Office bureaucratic priorities
▫ CPS no exception
• No longer about initial goals but... £££
▫ Its all about the money, money, money...
• „Efficiency, minimal expense...‟ (Croall et al; 2005:12)

16. Co-operation with other agencies without losing independence?

17. Police
Office of the Prosecutor General
of the Russian Federation
Association of
Chief Police
Officers
Media
Counter
Terrorism
Unit Crimes Against
Humanity Unit
Institute of Legal
Executives
Met
Police
Forensic Science
Service
Non-Governmental
Organisations
Independent
Police Complaints
Commission Victims
Local
Government
BarNHS
Office of Rail
Regulation
Interpreters
Local
Government
Association
Fire and
Rescue
Services
Welsh Local
Government
Association
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Child
Protection
Services
Health and Safety Executive
British
Transport
PoliceSerious
and
Organised
Crime
Agency
Immigration
Services

18. CPS as Judge and Jury
• Code for Crown Prosecutors
▫ „realistic prospect of conviction‟ which should be
an „objective test‟
▫ 5 editions from start
• Approaches of the CPS
▫ Predictive
▫ Intrinsic merits
• 1986 and 1992 – favour of diversion from
prosecution
• 1994 and 2000 – reversal

19. CPS Currently and its future
• John Report 2003
• Determine all but minor routine offences
▫ Police regaining powers – independent?
• Future to create a super prosecuting service
▫ Serious Organised Crime Agency
▫ Revenue and Customs
▫ UK Border Agency

20. How does this reflect success, if at all?

21. Convictions and the CPS
• Police organisation of prosecutors before CPS
▫ Police reluctant to change this
• Disjunctions between Policy and what actually
happens
▫ ECHR- “equality of arms”
• Evidence and its impact on cases
• Prosecution of Offenders Act, 1985, Section 23
▫ Police control evidence
▫ Construction by Police, selective, Police
summaries and their eradication

22. Convictions and the CPS
• Prosecution of cases as crime control strategy
▫ “Confait Affair”
• Convictions
▫ Discontinuation of weak
cases, Government, statistics
▫ Doesn‟t it show CPS does what it was set up to do?
Figures suggest it.
• Stephen Lawrence case (Macpherson of Cluny, Sir W., 1999)

23. Convictions and the CPS
• CPS rarely drops evidentially weak
cases, research confirms weak cases continue to
be prosecuted, public interest cases
• Violations of due process, Police cautioning
• CPS as decision reverser, not a decision
maker, “Prosecution momentum”

24. Convictions and the CPS
• Prosecution of weak cases
▫ Commitment to help the “vulnerable” victim
(Sanders et al. in Home Office, no. 44; 1997)
• Little difference in Police and CPS outlook and
evaluations of cases, CPS mindset as
PROSECUTION not CRIMINAL JUSTICE
agency (McVonville et al.;1991)
• Unlike Holland (Brants and Filed; 1995).

25. Convictions and the CPS
• Ethnic minority defendants
▫ More likely to have cases BOTH discontinued and
admitted to court, racism elements of Police
(Mhlanga, 1999)

26. Convictions and the CPS
• Adaptation and progression
▫ Schemes like PICA (Public Interest Case
Assessment)
▫ RCCP recommendation that PICA “should be
expanded across country” (RCCP Report, 1993)
▫ “Prosecutors have no way of knowing...” so Code
of Crown Prosecutors can not be applied correctly

27. Convictions and the CPS
• Adaptation and progression cont.
▫ Auld Report 2001
▫ Statutory Charging Scheme
▫ Senior Prosecutor in the past warned CPS needs a
cultural change (Brownlee, 2001), structural and role
conflicts
• CPS Annual Report 2004-05 proclaimed this as
progressed.

28. The jury is out...

29. On the grounds of:
Independence
Interdependence
CPS and Convictions

30. The verdict is in...

31. Guilty
Overall, unsuccessful

32. Not-Guilty
Overall, successful

33. Bibliography
1. Adams, D., 1998. Reforming the Crown Prosecution
Service. Policy Studies, 19(3/4), pp. 223-227.
2. Anon., 1981. Royal Commission on Criminal
Prosecution Report. London, HMSO.
3. Anon., 1993. Royal Commission on Criminal
Procedure, London: MHSO.
4. Anon., HSP 90. Inquiry into the Circumstances
Leading to the Trial of Three Persons on Charges
Arising out of the Death of Maxwell Confair and Fair
at 27 Doggett Road, London SE6, London: HMSO.
5. Ashworth, A. & Redmayne, M., 2010. Prosecutions. In:
The Criminal Process. 4 ed. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, pp. 193-227.

34. Bibliography
6. Auld, L. J., 2001. Review of the Criminal Courts of England
and Wales, London: TSO.
7. Barclay, G. C. & Tavares, C., 1999. Information on the
Criminal Justice System in England and Wales Digest
4, London: Home Office.
8. Bowling, B., 1998. Violent Racism. Oxford: Clarendon.
9. Brants, C. & Field, S., 1995. Discretion and Accountability in
Prosecution. In: C. Harding et al., ed. Criminal Justice in
Europe: A Comparative Study. Oxford: Clarendon.
10. Brown et al., 2007. Protective Roles in Seeking Information
and Trying to Build a Case. Journal of Psychology, Crime
and Law, 13(4), pp. 355-370.
11. Clarkson et al., 1994. Assaults: The Relationship between
Serious ness, Criminalisation and Punishment. Criminal
Law Review 4.

35. Bibliography
12. Crisp, D., 1993. Standardising Prosecutions. In: Home
Office Research Bulletin 13.. London: Home Office.
13. Crisp, D., 1993. Standing Accused, London: Home Office.
14. Crisp, D. & Moxon, D., 1994. Case Screening by the Crown
Prosecution Service: How and Why Cases are
Terminated, London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office.
15. Croall et al., 2005. Criminal Justice. London: Pearson.
16. Crown Prosection Service, 2012. Prosecutors. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/about/prosecutors
[Accessed 10 October 2012].
17. Crown Prosecution Service, 2004-05. CPS Annual
Report, London: SO.

36. Bibliography
18. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. Area Business Managers. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/about/abm
[Accessed 10 October 2012].
19. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. Chief Crown Prosecutors. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/about/ccp
[Accessed 10 October 2012].
20. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. Chief Executive. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/about/ce
[Accessed 10 October 2012].
21. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. Director of Public Prosecution. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/about/dpp
[Accessed 10 October 2012].
22. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. Headquarters. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/you_cps/our_organisation/headquarters
[Accessed 10 October 2012].
23. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. History. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/about/history
[Accessed 10 October 2012].

37. Bibliography
24. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. National Protocols and Agreements
with Other Agencies. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/agencies/index
[Accessed 10 October 2012].
25. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. People at the CPS. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/about/people
[Accessed 10 October 2012].
26. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. Sector Directors. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/about/sectordirectors
[Accessed 10 October 2012].
27. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. The Criminal Justice System. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/about/cjs
[Accessed 8 October 2012].
28. Crown Prosecution Service, 2012. Your CPS: Introduction. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/about
[Accessed 10 October 2012].
29. Duff, P., 1997. Who Controls the Gates. British Journal of
Criminology, 37(1).

38. Bibliography
30. Farrall, S. & Hay, C., 2010. Not So Tough On Crime? Why Weren't the
Thatcher Governments More Radical in Reforming the Criminal Justice
System?. British Journal of Criminology, 50(3), pp. 550-569.
31. Her Majesty‟s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, 2012. Who we
are and what we do. [Online]
Available at: http://www.hmcpsi.gov.uk/about/who-we-are-and-what-
we-do
[Accessed 14 October 2012].
32. Her Majesty's Government, 2012. Crown Prosecution Service case
outcomes by principal offence category - August 2011. [Online]
Available at: http://data.gov.uk/dataset/crown-prosecution-service-
case-outcomes-by-principal-offence-category-august-2011
[Accessed 17 October 2012].
33. Khan, A. N., 1986. Crown Prosecution Service. Journal Of Criminal
Law, 50(1), pp. 297-304.
34. Macpherson of Cluny, S. W., 1990. The Stephen Lawrence Case, Cm
4262-1, London: SO.
35. McConville et al., 1991. The Case for Prosecution. London: Routledge.

39. Bibliography
36. McConville et al., 1994. Standing Accused: The
Organisation and Practises of Criminal Defence Lawyers
in Britain. Oxford: Clorendon Press.
37. McConville, M. & Wilson, 2002. Handbook of Criminal
Justice Process. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
38. Mears, M., 2000. Handle with Extra Care, London: The
Spectator.
39. Mhlanga, B., 1999. Race and the CPS. London: SO.
40. Mhlanga, B., 2000. Race and the CPS. London: TSO.
41. National Audit Office, 2006. Crown Prosecution Service:
Effictive use of Magistrates' Court Hearings. [Online]
Available at:
http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/0506/crown_prosecu
tion_service_eff.aspx
[Accessed 11 October 2012].

40. Bibliography
42. Samuels, A., 1986. Crown Prosecution Service. Journal of
Criminal Law, 50(1), pp. 432-441.
43. Sanders, Creaton, Bid et al., 1997. Victims with Learning
Disabilities, Oxford: Centre for Criminological Research.
44. Sanders, A. & Young, R., 20007. Criminal Justice. 3rd ed.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
45. Saunders, A., 1988. The Limits to Diversion from
Prosecution. British Journal of Criminology, 28(4), pp.
513-532.
46. The GHASTLY Truth about the Crown Prosecution
Service.... 2008. [Film] Directed by 21stCenturyPolitix. UK:
YouTube.com.
47. Video of police assault on Ian Tomlinson, who died at the
London G20 Protest. 2009. [Film] Directed by The
Guardian. UK: YouTube.com.