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The Role of The Crown Prosecution Service

The Crown Prosecution Service is the government department responsible for prosecuting criminal cases investigated by the police in England and Wales.

As the principal prosecuting authority in England and Wales, we are responsible for:

  • advising the police on cases for possible prosecution
  • reviewing cases submitted by the police
  • determining any charges in more serious or complex cases
  • preparing cases for court
  • presenting cases at court

Find out more about the role of the Crown Prosecution Service

Prosecuting Violent Crime

Violent crime covers a wide range of offences including:

These crimes are extremely rare, they account for only about 1% of all crime. Yet they cause significant harm, both to individual victims and their families in terms of physical injury and psychological trauma, and to society more widely in terms of fear. We are committed to prosecuting violent crimes efficiently and effectively.

Home » News Centre » Press Releases » CPS singled out for work in campaign to end violence against women

CPS singled out for work in campaign to end violence against women

23/11/2006

The Crown Prosecution Service has been singled out for its work on violence against women in a report by the End Violence Against Women Campaign which placed the CPS as top in an assessment of government departments.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald, QC, said: "The CPS was praised for giving a coherent account of its strategic approach to violence against women in terms of planning, targets, training, budgets and evaluation.

"We take violence against women very seriously, whether it is domestic violence, forced marriage or so-called "honour" crime, rape and sexual assault or the trafficking of women. These are all crimes where we will prosecute robustly if the evidence is there.

"Domestic violence makes up 80 per cent of all hate crime and the CPS has a published policy on Prosecuting Cases of Domestic Violence. We also publish an annual snapshot monitoring our performance on prosecuting these cases and we are working with our criminal justice partners in further developing Domestic Violence Courts.

"We will take on board the comments in the report and will use them to inform our work in the future."

Baronness Prosser, Chair of the Women's National Commission said: "As Chair of the WNC I am delighted that CPS is taking violence against women so seriously and their scores in this year's report are a success to be proud of.

"They are giving a lead in Government on getting the structures right, so that the right services can be delivered for women. We look forward in next year's report to seeing this rolled out with increasing effectiveness and making a real impact on the ground."

The End Violence Against Women Campaign's report is called Making the Grade? The second annual independent analysis of Government initiative on violence against women. It is an assessment of what every UK government department reports it is doing to address violence against women in all its forms.

  1. The CPS scored 6.75 out of 10 in the report.
  2. For further information contact CPS Press Office on 020 7796 8180.