Trials
(asked on 31st March 2021) - View Source
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what estimate she has made of the number of CPS prosecutions that have been classified as no longer in the public interest as a result of delays in criminal trials beginning in each of the last five years.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) case outcome records compiled in the Case Management System include an allocation of a principal reason for finalised prosecutions not resulting in a conviction (non-conviction outcomes), including the numbers which failed for public interest reasons.
The CPS does not have a specific reason accounting for delays in criminal trials. However, the category ‘Other charge/indictment; loss/harm minor from single incident; delay between offence/charge and trial’ may be allocated. This can apply where there has been a delay since the commission of the offence, or since the defendant was charged, leading either to the case being dropped by the CPS, or stopped by the court on the grounds of abuse of process. It is not possible to further disaggregate these reasons.
The table below shows the number of defendants allocated this reason in each of the last five years, and the six months April to September 2020
2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | April - Sept 2020 | |
Other charge/indictment, loss/harm minor from single incident, delay between offence/charge and trial | 5,706 | 4,711 | 4,011 | 4,194 | 4,417 | 6,107 |
% Other charge/indictment, loss/harm minor from single incident, delay between offence/charge and trial | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 1.0% | 4.3% |
Total Non-Conviction Outcomes | 107,579 | 94,692 | 84,834 | 80,474 | 70,816 | 21,857 |
% Non-Conviction Outcomes | 16.9% | 16.1% | 15.9% | 16.3% | 15.7% | 15.4% |
Total Completed Prosecution Outcomes | 637,778 | 588,021 | 533,161 | 494,811 | 451,046 | 141,885 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System |
Between April and September 2020, the volume of completed prosecution outcomes reduced due to court closures and social distancing. However, the volume of cases dropped by the CPS are not as reliant on court hearings and were less impacted.
In response to COVID-19 the CPS introduced an Interim Case Review Guidance on the Application of the Public Interest, as part of the COVID-19 crisis response. The guidance is to be applied for charging decisions, including decisions on whether to continue or discontinue a case that has already been charged. The guidance advises that when considering the question of whether a prosecution is a proportionate response, prosecutors should do so in the context of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the potential delay to criminal proceedings. Application of the principles set out in this guidance may have contributed to an increase in the proportion of cases dropped under the category of ‘Other charge/indictment; loss/harm minor from single incident; delay between offence/charge and trial’.