Code for Crown Prosecutors

Dominic Grieve Excerpts

Monday 28th January 2013 Written Statements

[The Attorney-General (Mr Dominic Grieve)]

On behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, I am today depositing in the Libraries of both Houses an updated version of the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The code sets out how prosecutors working in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) make decisions and is supported by comprehensive legal guidance on a range of topics, further details of which are available on the CPS website at: www.cps.gov.uk.

The code was last revised in February 2010 and has been updated following consultation to provide more focused and streamlined guidance for prosecutors. In this latest version, the evidential stage of the full code test remains much as before; however the code no longer lists the public interest factors tending in favour and against prosecution. Instead prosecutors are provided with questions to address to assist them in identifying the public interest factors relevant to the case. The revised code also highlights the need to consider proportionality at the public interest stage.

The code is published to provide transparency to the decisions taken by prosecutors. To ensure the code’s accessibility, it will be published in audio and Braille as well as in English, Welsh, and other languages. Copies of the “Code for Crown Prosecutors” will be available on the CPS website.