DPP launches good practice for domestic violence prosecutors
15/11/2005
The Director of Public Prosecutions today launched a new good practice guide for crown prosecutors who deal with domestic violence cases.
Speaking at the third annual domestic violence conference organised by Refuge and Neil Stewart Associates, DPP Ken Macdonald QC said:
"It is a familiar statistic that two women are killed every week in this country through offences of domestic violence by their partners or ex-partners. But just because we are familiar with it should not blunt us to how shocking it is. As prosecutors, we aim to promote a more sophisticated approach to domestic violence cases and to do this we have produced a new good practice guide for all CPS areas based on the best practice from our two year domestic violence project."
The guidance sets out ten points for action including recommendations for improving partnership with statutory and voluntary agencies and enhancing community engagement to ensure that local agencies and community organisations are better consulted and involved. It provides practical measures to improve the effectiveness of prosecutions, to develop the expertise and training of all prosecutors in domestic violence issues and to support victims and their children as much as possible throughout the case. The document also sets out recommended approaches for working with criminal justice partners to set up and develop specialist domestic violence courts.
The good practice guidance follows directly from the findings of a two year project, which was completed in June this year and piloted two different approaches to specialist domestic violence courts in Caerphilly and Croydon. These pilots increased the number of perpetrators brought to justice through increased guilty pleas and convictions, increased the number of domestic violence incidents that resulted in a case going to court and reduced the number of cases lost before trial due to withdrawals and discontinuances. In Caerphilly victim retractions reduced from 53 percent to 17 percent, guilty pleas increased from 21 percent to 61 percent and convictions from 8 percent to 32 percent.
This year the CPS has introduced a number of new initiatives to tackle domestic violence. It has published a revised public policy statement which reflects an increased emphasis on the safety of victims and their children, focuses on effective evidence gathering and gives clearer guidance on how to proceed if a victim withdraws her support for a prosecution. It has developed a new training programme with Centrex, the police training centre, and has brought in systems to monitor domestic violence cases better and measure the success of prosecutions. The CPS has also worked with the Home Office, Department for Constitutional Affairs and other partners to extend the system of specialist domestic violence courts to 25 court centres across England and Wales.
Notes to Editors
- The Good Practice Guidance and other domestic violence protocols are available on this website in the Publications section.
- For further information contact CPS Press Office on 020 7710 6091.
