Prosecution

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The prosecution of offenders in England and Wales is the responsibility of the Crown Prosecution Service. 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.

The Prosecution Process. 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.

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?

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». 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. 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». 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.

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; or

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

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.

Presenting cases in Court. If the prosecutor thinks that there is enough evidence, and that a prosecution is needed in the public interest, the case is then presented in the magistrates’ court.

The CPS lawyer must present the facts to the court fairly.

Criminal cases are divided into the following three types of offence.

-«Summary only» offences (such as minor motoring offences and disorderly behaviour) are less serious, and can only be heard in the magistrates’ court.

-«Either way» offences are more serious and can be heard in either the magistrates’ court or before a judge and jury in the Crown Court. (These include all cases of theft and some categories of assault). Usually, the magistrates decide whether the case should be heard in the Crown Court. But sometimes when the magistrates say they will hear a case, the defendant can choose to be dealt with in the Crown Court.

-«Indictable only» offences (such as murder or rape) are the most serious, and must always be heard in the Crown Court which has more sentencing powers.

If a defendant is found not guilty, he or she cannot be prosecuted for the same offence. This applies to all types of case.

Every criminal case begins in the magistrates’ court. But, when, cases go on to the Crown Court, the CPS instructs a barrister, or a specially — qualified solicitor so that he or she can present the prosecution for the CPS.

The powers of police and the procedures which must be followed by them are laid down in Codes of Practice under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, 1984. These codes cover the powers to stop and search persons or vehicles; the searching of premises and seizure of property; detention, treatment and questioning by police; identification of suspects; and tape recording of interviews with suspects.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-17