England: Record low number of prosecutions while crime reports up

England: Record low number of prosecutions while crime reports up

A record low number of people were prosecuted or issued an out-of-court disposal in England and Wales over the past year despite a sharp increase in recorded crime, new figures reveal.

Just 1.61 million people were formally dealt with by the criminal justice system in the year to March 2018, down seven per cent on the year before.

The figures are contained in the latest quarterly Criminal Justice System Statistics release.

Over the same period, there was an 11 per cent increase in recorded crime to 5.5 million offences, which the UK government says is “believed to be associated with improved recording among police forces and victims’ greater willingness to report crimes”.

The number of individuals prosecuted at all courts fell by around five per cent, and the use of out-of-court disposals declined by 14 per cent.

The decline in overall prosecutions was primarily driven by a decline in defendants prosecuted for summary motoring and indictable offences.

The overall conviction ratio increased by one per cent to 87 per cent, the highest in the decade.

A CPS spokeswoman told The Guardian: “We will always prosecute cases referred to us by the police where there is enough evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest.

“Last year the CPS prosecuted more than 530,000 cases, with a conviction rate of 84%. Although the number of cases has decreased, there has been an increase in the complexity of the cases we prosecute.

“This is reflected in the growth in digital evidence and, in the case of sexual offences, reliance on vulnerable victims and witnesses.”

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