cps

Question 1

underlying philosophy

Answer 1

-make sure the right person is prosecuted
-must be fair, independent and objective
-independent from police since 1986 due to the protection of offenders at 1985

Question 2

aims and objectives

Answer 2

-to decide which cases need to be prosecuted
-determine charges serious or complex cases
-advise the police
-have sufficient evidence to prosecute

Question 3

working practices

Answer 3

-14 regional teams in England and Wales headed by a chief crown prosecutor working closely with police forces
-24 hours accessibility
-decides whether or not to prosecute in courts
-code of practise, full code test, threshold test, evidential test and public interest test

Question 4

funding

Answer 4

-government funds the cps
-parliament approve most of the budget
-budget was over 500 million in 2016/17

Question 5

strengths

Answer 5

-successful in social control due to preparing and presenting cases with a secure conviction
-for example, in 2018, 80,000n in crown court and 450,000 in magistrate courts were prosecuted, with over 80% being convicted

Question 6

weaknesses

Answer 6

-media reports of the cps performance hasn’t always been the best, such as the guardian saying that rape specialist were told to drop the weak cases
-due to budget cuts, there has been a lost of staff, 1/3 of staff has been lost, meaning it creates backlogs, meaning it is not useful for prosecuting and gaining justice