Police and lawyers delay prosecutions
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Government lawyers, the police and barristers are all criticised today in a report on the quality of the prosecution service.
The National Audit Office attacks barristers for receiving then returning prosecution cases, causing widespread delays. The report says this happens in three-quarters of cases, and that in a third of these the prosecutions are then handled by barristers described as "of inappropriate quality".
Victims of crime are not being involved in the prosecution of their attackers, especially in cases where charges are dropped, according to the Government watchdog .
It criticises the Crown Prosecution Service for not giving full enough explanations to police to pass on to victims where they decide not to prosecute. Charges do not proceed in 12 per cent of cases, a slight improvement on recent years.
The report says only one third of police files meet both time and quality guidelines.
The NAO attacks the lack of independence of the CPS Inspectorate and the delays and cost in bringing in a new computerised scheme to enable it to keep track of cases. The project, originally expected to cost pounds 8m, will now cost pounds 16m.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments