By David Williams
6 August 2009
MPs have questioned the ‘piecemeal’ growth of the Crown Prosecution Service, saying the agency has been given new responsibilities without a clear vision of what its role should be.
The CPS: Gatekeeper of the criminal justice system, published by the Commons justice select committee on August 6, praised the CPS for working closely and effectively with police.
But, it said, although a series of changes to the agency’s role have been made since it was established in 1986, there was no ‘overall vision’ directing its evolution. The MPs also called for a review of the agency’s powers to halt a prosecution in favour of an out-of-court caution.
The increasing use of such measures ‘represents a fundamental change to our concept of a criminal justice system and raises a number of concerns about consistency and transparency in the application of punishment’, said the report.
Government ‘proclamations’, which encouraged the perception that the CPS existed to champion victims’ rights, were singled out for criticism.
‘Telling a victim that their views are central to the criminal justice system, or that the prosecutor is their champion, is a damaging misrepresentation of reality,’ the committee concluded.
MPs expressed concerns that the CPS did not recognise that people with mental illnesses could be credible witnesses, and described the body’s lack of a complaints procedure as a ‘serious weakness’.
They also said the increasing use of CPS advocates required attention, as it had significant implications for the future both of the organisation and for the legal profession as a whole.
A CPS spokeswoman pointed out the use of in-house barristers saved £11.5m of public money in 2008/09. However, she acknowledged that case management needed to improve, and broadly accepted the criticism of the body’s complaints system and treatment of vulnerable witnesses.
She said Setting the standard, published by the director of public prosecutions in July, sets out a clear vision for the role and purpose of the CPS, including ‘core quality standards’.
Attorney general Baroness Scotland said: ‘I share the committee’s views on the need for clarity about the aims and purposes of the CPS.’ Her office promised to consider the report’s findings on conditional cautions. Pointing to the strategic board she chairs for modernising the prosecution services, she said that although progress has been made in the past two years, there is still more to do.
6 August 2009
MPs have questioned the ‘piecemeal’ growth of the Crown Prosecution Service, saying the agency has been given new responsibilities without a clear vision of what its role should be.
The CPS: Gatekeeper of the criminal justice system, published by the Commons justice select committee on August 6, praised the CPS for working closely and effectively with police.
But, it said, although a series of changes to the agency’s role have been made since it was established in 1986, there was no ‘overall vision’ directing its evolution. The MPs also called for a review of the agency’s powers to halt a prosecution in favour of an out-of-court caution.
The increasing use of such measures ‘represents a fundamental change to our concept of a criminal justice system and raises a number of concerns about consistency and transparency in the application of punishment’, said the report.
Government ‘proclamations’, which encouraged the perception that the CPS existed to champion victims’ rights, were singled out for criticism.
‘Telling a victim that their views are central to the criminal justice system, or that the prosecutor is their champion, is a damaging misrepresentation of reality,’ the committee concluded.
MPs expressed concerns that the CPS did not recognise that people with mental illnesses could be credible witnesses, and described the body’s lack of a complaints procedure as a ‘serious weakness’.
They also said the increasing use of CPS advocates required attention, as it had significant implications for the future both of the organisation and for the legal profession as a whole.
A CPS spokeswoman pointed out the use of in-house barristers saved £11.5m of public money in 2008/09. However, she acknowledged that case management needed to improve, and broadly accepted the criticism of the body’s complaints system and treatment of vulnerable witnesses.
She said Setting the standard, published by the director of public prosecutions in July, sets out a clear vision for the role and purpose of the CPS, including ‘core quality standards’.
Attorney general Baroness Scotland said: ‘I share the committee’s views on the need for clarity about the aims and purposes of the CPS.’ Her office promised to consider the report’s findings on conditional cautions. Pointing to the strategic board she chairs for modernising the prosecution services, she said that although progress has been made in the past two years, there is still more to do.
