Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

It used to be the case that when the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to proceed with a prosecution, that was the end of the matter. The courts were clearly unhappy that the CPS should never reconsider a decision not to prosecute. On 29 June 2011, the Court of Appeal in R v Christopher Killick [2011] EWCA Crim 1608, considered in some detail the right of a victim of crime to seek a review of a CPS decision not to prosecute. It concluded that:

• a victim has a right to seek a review in such circumstances;

• a victim should not have to seek recourse to judicial review;

• the right to a review should be made the subject of a clearer procedure and guidance with time limits.

Following this judgement, the CPS created a new scheme – the Victim’s Right to Review Scheme – to give effect to the principles laid down in Killick and also to meet Article 10 of the European Union Directive establishing minimum standards on the rights, support, and protection of victims of crime. It was launched in June 2013.

Data recently published by the CPS shows that between 5 June 2013 and 31 March 2014, the CPS made 113,952 decisions which could be subject to appeal under the VRR scheme. The CPS reviewed 1,186 cases; of these 162 decisions were overturned.

The CPS also undertoook some work to see how the scheme was working in the light of experience. The outcome of this work is that a slightly revised, final, scheme of review was prepared and published in July 2014.

For the data, see http://www.cps.gov.uk/victims_witnesses/victims_right_to_review/vrr_data/index.html

The revised scheme is at http://www.cps.gov.uk/victims_witnesses/victims_right_to_review/index.html