Annex A - Data Systems used by the CPS
PSA 23 - Make communities safer
British Crime Survey
The level of public confidence in the 'fairness' and 'effectiveness' of the criminal justice system is measured through the British Crime Survey (BCS). The BCS is a continuous nationally representative social survey of adults aged 16 and over living in private households in England and Wales (annual sample size of over 45,000). It measures crime victimisation, experience of and attitudes to crime.
For 'effectiveness of the CJS', respondents are asked about their confidence in the effectiveness of each of the individual agencies that comprise the CJS, followed by a question about confidence in the effectiveness of the CJS as a whole. This prompts the respondent's awareness and knowledge of the agencies within the CJS before asking about the overall CJS.
For 'fairness of the CJS', the approach is based on a set of statements covering common attitudes towards issues around 'fairness' (e.g. discrimination against particular groups or individuals and the balance between the victim and offender) in order to provoke consideration of these different aspects before asking the general question on perceptions of fairness in the CJS as a whole.
Social researchers from the Office for Criminal Justice Reform are responsible for undertaking the confidence analyses, and ensuring that each set of data is produced in accordance with the Unit's data quality procedures. The BCS is published as a National Statistic.
Crime recording
Recorded crime statistics are affected by changes in reporting and recording practices. There have been two major changes to the recording of crimes since 1997-98. In April 1998, the counting rules were expanded to include additional offences, and the methods of counting became victim focused, which also increased the count of crime. In April 2002, the National Crime Recording Standard was introduced to ensure greater consistency between forces in recording crime and to take a more victim-oriented approach to crime recording.
Both these changes resulted in an increase in the number of crimes recorded. Certain offences, such as minor violent crime, were more affected by these changes than others. It is likely there has been some continuing impact on the number of recorded crimes in 2005-06, as a result of audits to further improve recording.
The estimated police recording rate has fallen in the year to September 2005. Changes with respect to common assault and wounding will have been influenced by changes in recording practice in three forces, which had prior to 2005/06 been incorrectly recording assaults with minor injury as common assaults. However, with respect to other changes it needs to be stressed that the recording rate estimate is not based on direct tracking of BCS reports of crime through to whether they are recorded by the police, but rather on comparison of BCS estimates for crimes said to have been reported by BCS respondents with actual crimes recorded by the police.
There is other detailed evidence from crime audits undertaken by the Audit Commission that the standards applied by the police have continued to improve during 2005.
Re-offending
A range of data sources (including prison data, probation data and Police National Computer data) are used to produce the data for the PSA23 reoffending target. These data sources are compiled based on information from individual prisons/probation areas and police forces. Data on offenders discharged from prison (following completion of sentence or on licence) and data on offenders commencing court orders under probation supervision in the first quarter of each year are matched to data held on the Ministry of Justice extract of the Police National Computer. This matched dataset provides the cohort used to measure reoffending. In 2007 97 per cent of offenders were matched using basic offender details (name, date of birth, gender), although the total number of offenders included in the cohort is lower than this once additional matching has been done on conviction dates within +/- 7 days, ensuring that offences were committed in England and Wales and were not breach offences, and removing multiple offender entries.
The Police National Computer is used to count the number of proven offences committed in a one year follow-up period (with an additional six month waiting period included for offences to be proved by a conviction), as well as the number of serious offences and the proportion of offenders who reoffend. As with any large scale administrative IT system, the PNC is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The automated extraction of the criminal histories is manually checked for a small random sample of offenders. Work continually takes place in order to ensure that the PNC data quality is maintained at a high level, such as updates to the coding and classification of offences and court disposal, updates to the methods used to identify the primary offence and removal of duplication of records within the database.
A full summary of the limitations of the methods used and risks involved are included in the introduction to each reoffending report and in the quality section. These reports can be found at:
PSA 24 - Deliver a more effective, transparent and responsive Criminal Justice System for victims and the public
Offences brought to justice
Offences brought to justice are sourced from the computer systems of HMCS and the Police.
Validation checks on court conviction data are run monthly to check whether outcomes and sentencing are consistent with legislation e.g.: if an offence is age specific, is the age of the defendant within the required range. Additional validation is carried out on police cautions data to confirm that cautions have been used appropriately. Full reconciliation of Penalty Notices for Disorder is carried out annually with police forces.
Validation checks on police recorded crime data are run on monthly returns to check whether changes are outside a reasonable range. There is also manual inspection of data for plausibility prior to publication and a reconciliation exercise with forces prior to the main annual publication. As well as this, Force Crime Registrars are in post in all police forces, outside of the performance management chain, with a responsibility for data quality. They undertake local audits and work with the National Crime Registrar to devise the counting rules for crime. The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced in April 2002, with the backing of the Association of Chief Police Officers, to introduce a more victim focused and consistent approach to recording. This being underpinned by a three year programme of audits, funded by the Home Office but undertaken by the Audit Commission, whose aim was to establish high standards in crime recording. In September 2007, the Audit Commission concluded that the standard of crime recording across England and Wales was the best that it has ever been.
Victim and witness satisfaction
Victim and witness satisfaction is measured by police user satisfaction surveys and the Witness and Victim Experience Survey (WAVES). Both are collected quarterly. Police user satisfaction data is validated annually with police forces before publication.
WAVES is a national telephone survey of victims and witnesses in cases that have resulted in a criminal charge. Its purpose is to provide information at Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) level and national level (England and Wales) about victims' and witnesses' experiences of the Criminal Justice System (CJS), the services they receive and their satisfaction with different aspects of the system.
WAVES covers victims and prosecution witnesses aged 18 and over in the following crime types: violence against the person; robbery; burglary; theft and handling stolen goods; and criminal damage. We do not interview victims and witnesses in sensitive cases, such as: sexual offences or domestic violence, crimes involving a fatality, and any crime where the defendant was a family member or a member of the witnesses' or victims' household, on ethical grounds. We do not include certain crime types; fraud and forgery, drug offences and motoring offences. We also exclude police officers or other CJS officials assaulted in the course of duty, and all police or expert witnesses.
WAVES asks victims and witnesses in cases where an offender was charged about all aspects of their experiences with the CJS, from their first contact with the police to their experience at court. Interviewers ask people about the extent to which they were satisfied with the services they received. We include victims and witnesses who go to court as well as those who do not. The survey, undertaken on a quarterly basis, aims to conduct approximately 38,800 interviews a year, 9,700 each quarter.
WAVES data relates to the period in which the case was finalised by the CJS, rather than the interview period. Data are weighted to enable the survey results to be representative of all eligible victims and witnesses in England and Wales. Weights are derived from the population profiles provided by LCJB areas. Data are analysed and quality assured by researchers from the OCJR - Evidence and Analysis Unit, prior to reporting.
British Crime Survey
See data systems for PSA 23
Better identify and explain race disproportionality at key points within the CJS
This target is measured by the progress of Local Criminal Justice Boards in rolling out the Minimum Data Set project. Information measuring performance is collected quarterly for those Boards that have rolled out the MDS. Six-monthly updates on progress against the roll-out schedule are supplied to the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (PMDU). This indicator is activity-based rather than directional and relates to progress on identifying and addressing unjust disproportionality rather than being a measure of disproportionality.
Asset Recovery
The measure for asset recovery is the value of assets recovered from criminals through: cash forfeitures, confiscation orders enforced, civil recovery/taxation and international sharing agreement. It is collected monthly.
The measurement is the aggregate annual asset recovery receipts in Pounds Sterling confirmed by the Asset Recovery Board (ARB) as retrieved from the Joint Asset Recovery Database (JARD).
British Crime Survey
See data systems for PSA 23
Departmental Strategic Objective - To bring offenders to justice, improve services to victims and witnesses and promote confidence, by applying the Code for Crown Prosecutors, adopting a proportionate approach to determine which offenders should be charged and which should be diverted from court, and by firm and fair presentation of cases in court.
To bring offenders to justice
See data systems for PSA 24
Improve service to victims and witnesses
Regular performance data measures the number of cracked and ineffective trials due to witness issues. A reduction in these figures will be a key part of showing improved performance in the level of service to victims and witnesses. (See also data systems for PSA 24)
Data on witness attendance for the majority of CJS areas is provided via the Witness Management System. Data on attendance for Kent, Sussex and North Yorkshire is collated using a separate tracker system.
Applying the Code for Crown Prosecutors
The Casework Quality Assurance (CQA) sampling process is used to assess the quality of CPS casework and to ensure that the correct amount of rigour is being used when applying the code.
Promote Confidence
See data systems for PSA 24
Firm and fair representation at court
The national Advocacy Quality Management Strategy is being developed to assess and improve the quality of advocacy performance in the Crown Court (both in-house advocates and the self-employed Bar).
