Introduction
What does the Crown Prosecution Service do?
When the police think someone has done a crime, the Crown Prosecution Service decides if that person must go to court.
The head of the Crown Prosecution Service is the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC.
The Director of Public Prosecutions reports to the Attorney General.
The Attorney General is responsible to Parliament for what the Crown Prosecution Service does.
The Crown Prosecution Service works all over the country.
It is split into 42 different areas and other special sections.
The head of each Crown Prosecution Service area is called the Chief Crown Prosecutor.
Each Crown Prosecution Service area works with the local Police force.
The Crown Prosecution Service and the police are different.
They do different things.
They work together for justice.
When a crime is done the police try to find out what happened.
They find out about:
- The victim - the person the crime was done to.
- The witnesses - people who sees the crime being done.
- The suspects - the people who may have done the crime.
The police collect all the information about the crime. This information is called evidence.
The police give the information to lawyers called Prosecutors. Prosecutors work for the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Prosecutors think about the information the police give them. They then decide if there is enough information to go to court. Sometimes they will deal with a crime in a different way.
Prosecutors know about the law and they speak in court.
Prosecutors are helped to do their work by people called Paralegal officers, Paralegal assistants and and Administrative officers.
The Crown Prosecution Service and the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office have joined together.
The Crown Prosecution Service and the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office want to do three things.
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Protect the public
We want to help reduce crime and protect the public.
We want you to know what we do. We want to do our job in an open and honest way.
We want to know what you think about the job we do. We will listen to what you tell us. If it is the right thing to do we will change our policy. -
Support Victims and Witnesses
We want victims and witnesses to be heard. We will help victims and witnesses to say what happened to them in court. We will support victims and witnesses. -
Deliver Justice
We want to make sure that the right decisions are made, by the right people, at the right time.
We will deal with people who have broken the law in a fair and firm way.
We want you to understand why we make decisions.We will help make the court system work well.
We will protect the human rights of people we meet when we do our job.
Glossary
- Administrative Officers
- Administrative Officers are people who work for the Crown Prosecution Service who help do the office work.
- Attorney General
- The Attorney General is the chief legal adviser to the Government.
The Attorney General supervises the Crown Prosecution Service.
The current Attorney General is Dominic Grieve QC, MP. - Chief Crown Prosecutor
- The Chief Crown Prosecutor is the head prosecutor in an area of the country.
Wendy Williams is Chief Crown Prosecutor for Northumbria. - Court
- A place where decisions are made about the law.
- Crime
- A Crime is something someone has done that breaks the law.
- Crown Prosecution Service
When the police think someone has done a crime the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decide if that person must go to court. We tell the court about the crime and show the court the evidence.- Director of Public Prosecutions
- The Director of Public Prosecutions is the head of the Crown Prosecution Service.
The current Director of Public Prosecutions is Keir Starmer QC. - Evidence
- Evidence is information that makes it clear that something happened.
Evidence can be things like someone saying they saw a crime happen, or blood on a weapon, or who did it. - Justice
- Justice is the idea of something being right and fair.
- Lawyers
A lawyer is a person who has studied the law and has legal qualifications.- Paralegal Officers
Paralegal officers help Prosecutors get cases ready for court.- Parliament
- Parliament makes laws and is responsible for law and order.
- Policy
A policy is a guide to behaviour or how something is done.- Prosecutors
- Prosecutors are lawyers who represent the people.
Prosecutors speak in court to accuse a person of a crime.
They show the court the evidence they have found.
They do this to protect the public. - Responsible
A person is responsible when they have the job of looking after someone or something and there is a penalty if they don't do it well.- Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office
The Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO) prosecute crimes investigated by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.
These include: Drug smuggling, Fraud and Money Laundering
From 1st Jan 2010 RCPO will join with the Crown Prosecution Service.- Suspect
A suspect is someone who the police think might have done a crime.- Victim
The victim is the person the crime was done to.- Witness
A witness is a person who sees the crime being done, or sees or knows something that shows who did it.
