Crown Prosecution Service

What is the Crown Prosecution Service?

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is an independent judicial agency responsible for the preparation and presentation of criminal prosecutions in the UK.

In its role as the public prosecutor, the CPS works closely with the courts, the police and other agencies in the criminal justice system. This includes advising the police on potential prosecutions and assuming control of prosecutions initiated by the police.

The CPS is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The DPP is appointed by the Attorney General, who is accountable to Parliament for the work of the CPS.


Background

The CPS was established under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, following the findings of the Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure, chaired by Sir Cyril Philips, which were published in 1981.

The CPS was established in part to provide a counterbalance to increased police powers under the Police Powers and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and brought England and Wales in line with Scotland (which has an independent procurator fiscal) in having an independent prosecution service.

The 1985 Act itself followed a series of reports in the late 1970s and early 1980s recommending that the functions of investigating crime and prosecuting crime be kept separate. A Code for Crown Prosecutors, under the Act, stipulates that decisions taken by the CPS must be "fair and consistent", based on a two tier test of evidential sufficiency and public policy.

Following the recommendations of the Glidewell Report in 1998, the CPS was re-organised from 13 to 42 areas, to mirror the structure of the police service.

Each area is headed by a Chief Crown Prosecutor, who is responsible for theCPS work in that area. They are in turn supported in this task by Area Business Managers, who are responsible for management issues.

A revised Code for Crown prosecutors was published in 2000 to satisfy the requirements of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Inspectorate has a statutory duty to inspect each CPS area on a two-year cycle.


Controversies

Since the inception of the CPS, it has been beset by funding problems and criticisms that it is centralised, bureaucratic, ineffective and too close to the police.

The most serious allegation against the CPS is that it has failed to fulfill its function as an independent body from the police, and has acquired a predisposition to prosecute.

This perceived lack of independence in some quarters has resulted from a variety of factors, but is mainly attributed to a lack of resources to investigate police files and reliance on the police 'gatekeepers' for information. This has led to criticisms that the CPS is merely facilitating the fulfillment of the police service's agenda, which is what the CPS was established to prevent.

Critics suggest that the accusatorial and inquisitorial roles of the CPS are incompatible, giving the CPS an anomalous position of working for the police, at the same time as having to work on them.


Statistics

In 2001 the CPS dealt with 1.35 million cases in the Magistrates courts and 116,000 cases in the Crown Courts

In a 2000 report, 24 per cent of CPS staff described themselves as 'highly stressed' (Staff survey and Stress Audit 2000)

The CPS budget for 2001-2002 was £416 million. The majority of this figure, £304 million, is spent on administrative costs

8.5 per 100,000 cases were dismissed on the basis of no case to answer as a result of failures in the review process in 2000-01

87.9 per cent of cases in the Crown Court in 2000/01 resulted in conviction. This compares with 98.3 per cent in the magistrates court in the same period

The CPS was awarded £24.2 million in costs from convicted defendants in 2000-01

Statistics: (Source: Crown Prosecution Service Annual Report, 2000 - 2001)


Quotes

"The role of the service is to prosecute cases firmly, fairly and effectively, when there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction, and when it is in the public interest to do so."

Crown Prosecution Service Annual Report, 2000 - 2001