15. The crown prosecution service (cps) – past event

The prosecution of offenders in England and Wales is the responsibility of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). It was set up in 1986 to prosecute criminal cases resulting from police investigations.

The Head of the CPS is the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The CPS handles about 1,4 million cases every year and employs about 6,000 staff.

Over 2,000 of these staff are barristers or solicitors. The staff are located in 98 offices throughout England and Wales.

Before 1986 the police investigated crimes, charged suspects and then took cases to court, sometimes using their own or a local lawyer. This changed under the Prosecution of Offenders Act 1985 which created the CPS and separated the investigation stage from the prosecution stage. Now the CPS makes the decision whether to continue a case and bring to court.

After the Police have investigated a crime and passed the papers to the CPS, one of the lawyers — called a Crown Prosecutor — carefully reviews the papers to decide whether or not to go ahead with the case.

The prosecutor’s decision is based on the two tests set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The code is a booklet which sets out the general principles which prosecutors must apply when they decide whether to continue a case.

Crown Prosecutors must always think very carefully about the interest of the victim of the crime. This is an important factor when prosecutors decide where the public interest lies.

Choose one paragraph from the following reading that best suits each statement.

16. The crown prosecution service (cps) – nowadays

1. The two tests set out in the Code are as follows: Is there enough evidence? Is it “in the public interest” for us to prosecute?

2. A case has to pass both these tests before the CPS can start or continue a prosecution. To examine a case the prosecutor reviews it to see if there is enough evidence to provide a “realistic prospect of conviction”.

3. If there is not, and the police say there is no more evidence or none will become available in the nearest future, the case will be stopped there.

4. However, the police can be asked to look at the case again, if more evidence becomes available at a late date. If the prosecutor thinks that there is enough evidence to start or continue a prosecution, he or she will then consider whether a prosecution is needed in the public interest.

5. This means that the prosecutor must think carefully about all the factors for and against a prosecution, and assess in each case whether a prosecution should go ahead. Some of the public interest factors which are taken into account are set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

6. For example, a prosecution is likely to be needed if:

• a weapon was used or violence was threatened during an offence;

• the motive for the offence was any form of discrimination;

• the offence was committed against a person serving the public such as a police officer.

7. Crown Prosecutors must always think very carefully about the interest of the victim of the crime. This is an important factor when prosecutors decide where the public interest lies.

Choose one paragraph from the following reading that best suits each statement.