Preliminaries to prosecution. Role of the CPS and other prosecutors Flashcards
Director of Public Prosecutions
Where the DPP has the conduct of proceedings in consequence of the duties imposed under s. 3 of the 1985 Act, he or she may discontinue the proceedings or take any other step in relation to them, including the bringing of an appeal and the making of representations in respect of applications for bail.
Further duties imposed on the DPP by the 1985 Act include issuing a code for the guidance of Crown Prosecutors in the performance of various aspects of their duties.
Another duty resting on the DPP is to give or refuse consent to a prosecution in those cases where statute provides that the prosecutor may not proceed without it.
Crown Prosecution Service
CPS Involvement in the Charging Process
The CPS is involved in deciding what charges (if any) should be preferred in all but the most minor cases.
The Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 also empowers the DPP to appoint persons who are not members of the Service to institute or take over the conduct of such criminal proceedings as the DPP may assign to them.
The appointed person must have a general qualification.
A person appointed under s. 5(1) has, in conducting the proceedings, all the powers of a Crown Prosecutor, but has to exercise those powers subject to any instructions given by a Crown Prosecutor.
In practice, the volume of CPS work in the magistrates’ courts is such that some has to be delegated to agents under s. 5. An agent is, however, expected to obtain authority from a CPS lawyer before taking steps in relation to a case such as offering no evidence on a charge or accepting a bind over.
Section 7A of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 gives the DPP power to appoint staff who are not legally qualified. These staff are now known as ‘associate prosecutors’, and may represent the CPS on bail applications and on other pre-trial applications, such as requests for adjournments. They may conduct trials but only where the offence in question is a non-imprisonable summary offence.
Review of CPS Decision Not to Prosecute
a person who is alleged to have suffered harm directly caused by criminal conduct may seek a review of a decision not to prosecute the person(s) suspected to have committed the criminal conduct which caused the harm suffered by the complainant.
The right of review arises where
(i) the CPS decide not to charge the suspect;
(ii) proceedings against the suspect are discontinued (or withdrawn in a magistrates’ court case), thereby ending those proceedings;
(iii) no evidence is offered in those proceedings (with the result that the defendant is acquitted); or
(iv) the charges are left to ‘lie on the file’, marked ‘not to be proceeded with without the leave of the Crown Court or the Court of Appeal’
Where no evidence has been offered, that decision cannot be reversed.
A decision not to prosecute may also be challenged by way of judicial review.
