Driving Change and Delivery in the Criminal Justice System
Joined-up IT
Criminal Justice Information Technology (CJIT) created the CJS Exchange facility, which enables immediate electronic information sharing between the CPS and partner agencies. By using the interface, the burden of inputting the same data into both police and CPS systems has been substantially reduced. Following the successful pilot between the CPS CMS and police IT system NSPIS in Humberside, the Exchange is now live in Avon and Somerset, North Wales, Essex, North Yorkshire and parts of West Yorkshire.
Prolific and Priority Offenders
The CPS has continued to contribute at a national and local level during 2006-07 to deliver the Prolific and Priority Offender (PPO) Programme throughout England and Wales. The CPS has worked closely with colleagues in the CJS to bring to justice those PPOs who are causing the most harm to their communities. The CPS has focused on the 'Catch and Convict' strand of the strategy and continues to provide a premium service in terms of the preparation and presentation of cases involving such offenders.
Drug Interventions Programme
The Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) involves the CPS, other criminal justice agencies and the National Treatment Agency (working with drug treatment service providers) to offer certain drug-misusing offenders a way out of crime and into treatment. The CPS has an important role in communicating drug test results to the court at bail and sentence hearings. Since March 2006, 'Testing on Arrest' and 'Restriction on Bail' provisions have come into force to encourage earlier and better levels of drug intervention. The 'Required Assessment' provisions of the Drugs Act 2005 are also being implemented. Required assessment creates an opportunity for those testing positive for specified Class A drugs to receive treatment and other support.
Animal Rights Extremism
The CPS remains committed to tackling animal rights extremism. In 2006 the CPS worked in close co-operation with the police Domestic Extremism team on operations and investigations nationally, resulting in a number of successful prosecutions against leading animal rights extremists. The CPS has a co-ordinated network of prosecutors with specialist expertise in animal rights extremism. A national CPS conference was held at the end of March 2006, at which the Solicitor General stressed the importance of tackling animal rights extremism.
Case Study
The first ever successful use of conspiracy to blackmail charges against animal rights extremists saw four people receive substantial sentences in the Darley Oaks farm case. Their campaign against the farm culminated in the desecration of Gladys Hammond's grave.
In April 2006, John Ablewhite, John Smith, Kerry Whitburn and Josephine Mayo pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court to conspiracy to blackmail. Ablewhite, Smith and Whitburn were jailed for 12 years each and Mayo was jailed for four years. The charges encompassed the whole campaign against Darley Oaks farm in Staffordshire. The campaign centred on harassment and intimidation of the Hall family who ran the business (David Hall & Partners) as well as their family and their business partners. There were many serious incidents over a six-year period, including theft of livestock, threats, vandalism, an incendiary device and most infamously of all the desecration of the grave of Mrs Gladys Hammond, the mother-in-law of Christopher Hall.
The DPP Ken Macdonald QC, said: "The CPS specifically chose a charge which would allow the judge sufficient sentencing powers to reflect the seriousness of these offences and the harm and distress caused to so many people over so much time. This was a vicious and sinister campaign to stop a legitimate business. It deliberately inflicted sustained misery on the families and communities involved. Blackmail, as a way of promoting animal rights or any other cause, will meet the firmest response from us. This case sets a marker. CPS prosecutors are using the law to its fullest extent to ensure that animal rights extremists involved in serious crime are eligible for very long sentences of imprisonment."
Case Study
Suzanne Taylor, Mark Taylor and Theresa Portwine were the first people charged under sections 145 and 146 of the Serious Organised Crime Act. During the hearing at the Old Bailey, they admitted ‘conspiracy to interfere with contractual relationships with regards to an animal research organisation’. Between 30 June and 1 October 2005, they embarked on a campaign of terror, targeting companies perceived to be working with an animal research company called Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). Offices were vandalised and individual staff threatened, leaving people fearing for their lives.
The leading lawyer involved with the prosecution said of the case:
"In the past each of these individual incidents may have been perceived as a breach of the peace. Collectively they represent a substantial campaign of disruption, which had the sole intent of putting HLS out of business. The commitment of the CPS to pursue this case, and the outcome, has set a national standard that should be followed."
On 6 March 2007, members of the group were sentenced to a total of seven years' imprisonment.
Community Justice
The Salford Community Justice Centre opened in November 2005, taking some of the ideas and principles from the previously-established Liverpool Criminal Justice Centre, and applying them in a normal magistrates' court. The CPS has played a key role in both locations. The Salford Centre looked at ways to improve multi-agency working without having all agencies based at the same site. All agencies attend a pre-court briefing to identify problems, potential cases requiring intervention, likely guilty pleas etc. There is also more engagement with defendants both before and after sentencing, which has led to an increase in offender compliance.
In Salford the CPS has also introduced the concept of Community Impact Statements, compiled by police and local authorities, which identify the key issues in an area. Magistrates can use this information to inform them of the impact on the community of a type of crime, which will assist in providing appropriate sentences.
Prosecution Team Performance Management
The CPS monitors performance throughout the year through regular internal reviews of Area and HQ performance and external performance assessments. The Service is working closely with ACPO and individual police forces to develop the joint performance management system that enables the police and CPS to monitor and actively manage the quality and volume of cases that are referred for prosecution. Prosecution Team Performance Management has been implemented in all 42 Areas and post-implementation reviews had been completed in 39 Areas by 31 March 2007.
Casework Quality Assurance
CPS managers routinely assess the quality of casework being produced by operational lawyers by using a sampling and assessment process called Casework Quality Assurance, modelled closely on HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate's inspection methodology. Each month sample case files are examined and tested against a range of standard questions at key stages of the prosecution process. The scheme helps managers to identify casework that fails to meet a satisfactory standard and where further staff training or development is required.
The scheme has been adopted across the CPS with more than 20,000 files examined each year. The results of the monitoring indicate that a good level of casework quality is being maintained across the Service, with over 94.7% of cases showing a proper application of the Code for Crown Prosecutors, CPS policy and Charging standards.
