Racist Incident Monitoring Annual Report 2003 - 2004

(Including Report for Religiously Aggravated Crime 2003 - 2004)

Racist Incident Monitoring Scheme

Religiously Aggravated Crime

Racist Incident Monitoring Scheme

Introduction

1. This report contains information compiled by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on prosecution decisions and outcomes in all cases identified by the police or CPS as racist or religious incidents. The report covers the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004. Part 1 deals with racist incidents while Part 2 covers religiously aggravated offences.
2. Racially aggravated crime was introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This Act defined what is meant by racial aggravation and created specific offences of racially aggravated assault, criminal damage, public order and harassment. Additionally, section 153 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, as amended by the 2001 Act, imposes a duty on sentencing courts to treat evidence of racial aggravation as an aggravating feature, increasing the seriousness of the offence and the sentence to be imposed, in cases where offences are not specifically charged under the 1998 Act.
3. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 was amended by the Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 to include specific offences of religiously aggravated assault, criminal damage, public order and harassment. In addition, the duty on sentencing courts described in paragraph 1.2 was extended to include evidence of religious aggravation as an aggravating feature.
4. Details of all cases identified by either the police or CPS as racist or religious incidents are kept by each of the 42 CPS Areas and by the Casework Directorate in London, a specialist unit dealing with serious crime. Returns are provided monthly to CPS Headquarters in York where the information is collated and the annual report prepared. The cases were finalised before the introduction of Statutory Charging under the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

Racist Incidents

5. For the purposes of Part 1 of this report, the police and CPS have used the Macpherson definition of a racist incident, which states that:

'a racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person'.

6. All racist incident cases submitted by the police to the CPS for prosecution should be clearly marked in accordance with the national agreement. This enables the CPS to deal with the case appropriately and to commence the tracking procedure. If, on reviewing the evidence in the case, it is apparent that the case is a racist incident but has not been identified by the police, the reviewing lawyer will mark the case and ensure that it enters the system.
7. The CPS Racist Incident Monitoring Scheme (RIMS) covers all racist incidents and therefore includes information about specific offences charged under the 1998 Act as well as offences that could fall within Section 153. The report provides the following information:
• the number of racist incident defendant cases submitted by CPS Areas during the reporting period;
• CPS decisions on charges put by the police;
• details of charges prosecuted;
• details of charges dropped;
• outcomes of charges prosecuted in the Magistrates' Courts, Crown Courts and Youth Courts; and
• sentences imposed by each of these court types.

Religious Incidents

8. Religiously aggravated offences are also recorded using the CPS Racist Incident Monitoring Scheme (RIMS). In addition, the Director of Public Prosecutions is informed of all cases involving religiously aggravated offences so that he may express his own views on the decision made.

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Part 1: Racist Incidents

Key Findings - Summary and Comments

1. Identification of a racist incident

		National %
Number of defendants received	4728
Police identification	4238	90%
CPS identification	490	10%

Comment

The number of defendant cases received for prosecution has increased by approximately 12.8% from 4192 to 4728. This year police performance in marking racist incident files for CPS attention has increased by 4% to 90% compared to last years figure of 86%.

2. Defendants prosecuted/not prosecuted

		National %
Defendants prosecuted	3616
Defendants not prosecuted	1112
% of defendants prosecuted		76%

Comment

The CPS prosecuted 76% of the cases received. The remaining 24% were discontinued, dropped at court or could not be prosecuted because the defendant failed to appear.

3. Charges

		National %
Number of police charges	6770

		National %
Number and % of charges unaltered	5221

		National %
Number of charges added by the CPS	410

		National %
Total number of charges	7180
Total number charges Prosecuted	4719	66%
Total number of charges Dropped	2461	34%

Comment

This is the fifth full year in which we have gathered information on the new racially aggravated offences under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The percentage of police charges unaltered by the CPS was 73% compared with the 75% in 2002 - 2003 and 76% recorded in 2001 - 2002. The number of charges added by the CPS increased from 299 to 410. The number of police determined charges are likely to be reduced considerably with the introduction of statutory charging.

4. Details of charges prosecuted

Number of charges prosecuted	4719
Racially aggravated assaults	739
Racially aggravated criminal damage	236
Racially aggravated public order	1955
Racially aggravated harassment	317
Other assaults	458
Other criminal damage	183
Other public order	482
Other harassment	39
Theft Act	101
Other	208
Homicide	1

Comment

69% of the 4719 offences prosecuted were charged under the Crime and Disorder Act with the majority being racially aggravated public order offences. Although the remainder could not be prosecuted under the Act, a proportion contained admissible evidence of racial aggravation, which would have been presented to the court.

Following an incident in Sunderland on 28 August 2002 in which an Iranian was fatally stabbed, three defendants were charged with racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to section 29(1)(b) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. In addition, one of the three defendants was charged with murder while two defendants were charged with affray contrary to section 3(1) of the Public Order Act 1936. During the trial, the judge ruled there was insufficient evidence of racial aggravation. and a not guilty verdict was returned. However, the defendants were found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and convictions were also obtained on the murder and affray charges.

5. Outcome of charges prosecuted

		National %
Guilty pleas	3320	71%
Guilty after contest	716	15%
Committal discharge	53	1%
Half-time acquittal	104	2%
Full-time acquittal	526	11%

Venue of Cases

Charges dealt with at the Magistrates' Court	2888	61%
Charges dealt with at the Crown Court	1219	26%
Charges dealt with at the Youth Court	612	13%

Comment

The outcomes are charged-based rather than defendant-based and for this reason it is not possible to make direct comparisons with the outcomes for defendants in the national Performance Indicator system. We would, however, expect the percentage figures for defendants to be higher because each defendant faces an average of more than one charge. This year's 86% conviction rate is 2% higher than the previous year.

6. Reasons for dropping charges

		National %
Number of charges dropped	2461
Dropped: witness fails to attend	392	16%
Dropped: witness refuses to give evidence	245	10%
Dropped: other insufficient evidence	1125	45%
Dropped: public interest	363	15%
Dropped: written off/other	168	7%
Bound Over without trial	168	7%

Comment

Witness difficulties accounted for 26% of the charges dropped. Charges dropped because there was insufficient evidence accounted for a further 45%. Charges not pursued on public interest grounds accounted for 15% with the most common reason being that the defendant was being dealt with on more serious offences or was serving a long prison sentence. A further 7% of charges could not be prosecuted because the defendant failed to attend court and/or could not be traced. In respect of the remaining 7% of charges, the defendants were bound over without trial.

Charges dropped do not necessarily result in the whole case being terminated. The scheme records only those offences that are racially aggravated. A defendant may be charged with other offences arising from the same set of facts and these would not be tracked as part of the scheme.

7. CPS Annual Reports 1999/2000 to 2003/04

The following table shows the percentage variance in key data since the first CPS Annual Report for 1999/2000. The accompanying bar chart clearly shows that the number of racially and non-racially aggravated offences has increased each year.

The predominant offence is racially aggravated public order followed by racially aggravated assault.

CPS Racist Incident Monitoring Annual Reports 1999/2000 to 2003/2004

	99/00	00/01	% Variance on 99/00	01/02	% Variance on 00/01	02/03	% Variance on 01/02	03/04	% Variance on 02/03
Identification of a Racist Incident
Number of Defendants Received	2417	3105	28.5%	3728	20.1%	4192	12.4%	4728	12.8%
Number of Defendants Prosecuted	1832	2301	25.6%	2674	16.2%	3116	16.5%	3616	16.0%
Number of Charges Prosecuted	2651	3190	20.3%	3597	12.8%	4029	12.0%	4719	17.1%
Racially Aggravated Assault	323	407	26.0%	488	19.9%	666	36.5%	739	11.0%
Racially Aggravated Criminal Damage	113	174	54.0%	184	5.7%	244	32.6%	236	-3.3%
Racially Aggravated Public Order	723	1074	48.5%	1272	18.4%	1603	26.0%	1955	22.0%
Racially Aggravated Harassment	140	180	28.6%	166	-7.8%	244	47.0%	317	29.9%
Other Charges (i.e. non racially aggravated)	1352	1355	0.2%	1487	9.7%	1272	-14.5%	1472	15.7%
Outcome of all Charges Prosecuted
Guilty Pleas	1743	2173	24.7%	2482	14.2%	2792	12.5%	3320	18.9%
Guilty After Contest	335	487	45.4%	513	5.3%	619	20.7%	716	15.7%
Committal Discharge	15	28	86.7%	52	85.7%	35	-32.7%	53	51.4%
Half-time Acquittal	109	96	-11.9%	117	21.9%	82	-29.9%	104	26.8%
Full-time Acquittal	327	406	24.2%	433	6.7%	501	15.7%	526	5.0%

Charges prosecuted



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The number of defendants charged

1. The report contains a mixture of defendant based and charge based information. The initial unit of counting for the scheme is the defendant but decisions taken in respect of each defendant, whether by the CPS in relation to prosecution or by the courts in relation to sentence, are recorded on a charge by charge basis rather than a whole case basis. This means that four defendants in one case charged jointly with one offence will be counted as four units. Similarly, one defendant charged with several offences will be counted as one unit provided at least one of the offences is racially aggravated for the purpose of the scheme.
2. During the reporting period, 4728 defendants were charged with an offence, which, in view of the police or CPS, met the definition of a racist incident. In comparison with 2002 -2003 this represents an increase of approximately 12.8%. Table 1 represents the total number of defendants recorded by each CPS Area.

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Table 1 - The number of defendant cases recorded by each CPS Area

(Previous year's figure in brackets)

Area	Number of defendants
Avon & Somerset	49	(34)
Bedfordshire	36	(36)
Cambridgeshire	53	(15)
Cheshire	75	(74)
Cleveland	0	(0)
Cumbria	27	(32)
Derbyshire	40	(41)
Devon & Cornwall	125	(66)
Dorset	27	(34)
Durham	43	(33)
Dyfed Powys	43	(46)
Essex	38	(39)
Gloucestershire	26	(23)
Gt Manchester	294	(293)
Gwent	52	(51)
Hampshire	188	(115)
Hertfordshire	66	(48)
Humberside	98	(53)
Kent	75	(104)
Lancashire	155	(66)
Leicestershire	155	(148)
Lincolnshire	16	(15)
Merseyside	86	(87)
Metropolitan & City	618	(440)
Norfolk	102	(76)
Northants	42	(34)
Northumbria	243	(170)
North Wales	23	(26)
North Yorkshire	30	(35)
Nottinghamshire	150	(221)
South Wales	137	(180)
South Yorkshire	77	(87)
Staffordshire	169	(146)
Suffolk	42	(25)
Surrey	34	(49)
Sussex	131	(111)
Thames Valley	67	(95)
Warwickshire	38	(54)
West Mercia	100	(55)
West Midlands	604	(497)
West Yorkshire	319	(406)
Wiltshire	35	(31)
Casework Directorate	0	(1)
Total	4728	(4192)

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Police/CPS identification of a racist incident

1. There is a national agreement with the police that, when submitting files to the CPS, they will identify those which meet the definition of a racist incident. Files not identified by the police will be identified by the CPS.
2. During this reporting year the police have identified 90% of cases as meeting the Macpherson definition of a racist incident. Compared to last year's report this is an increase of 4%. The CPS identified the remaining 10%. Table 2 indicates the identification performance of the CPS and the police by Area.
3. Police identification in 19 CPS Areas was below the national average of 90%. In 24 Areas identification by the police was 90% and over.

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Table 2 - Police/CPS identification of racist incident cases by Area

Area	Identification
	Police		CPS
Avon & Somerset	38	78%	11	22%
Bedfordshire	26	72%	10	28%
Cambridgeshire	43	81%	10	19%
Cheshire	74	99%	1	1%
Cleveland	0	0%	0	0%
Cumbria	26	96%	1	4%
Derbyshire	33	83%	7	18%
Devon & Cornwall	119	95%	6	5%
Dorset	25	93%	2	7%
Durham	42	98%	1	2%
Dyfed Powys	35	81%	8	19%
Essex	34	89%	4	11%
Gloucestershire	26	100%	0	0%
Gt Manchester	253	86%	41	14%
Gwent	42	81%	10	19%
Hampshire	169	90%	19	10%
Hertfordshire	60	91%	6	9%
Humberside	96	98%	2	2%
Kent	69	92%	6	8%
Lancashire	145	94%	10	6%
Leicestershire	142	92%	13	8%
Lincolnshire	13	81%	3	19%
Merseyside	71	83%	15	17%
Metropolitan & City	559	90%	59	10%
Norfolk	93	91%	9	9%
Northants	36	86%	6	14%
Northumbria	222	91%	21	9%
North Wales	20	87%	3	13%
North Yorkshire	26	87%	4	13%
Nottinghamshire	133	89%	17	11%
South Wales	125	91%	12	9%
South Yorkshire	72	94%	5	6%
Staffordshire	158	93%	11	7%
Suffolk	40	95%	2	5%
Surrey	31	91%	3	9%
Sussex	108	82%	23	18%
Thames Valley	59	88%	8	12%
Warwickshire	33	87%	5	13%
West Mercia	80	80%	20	20%
West Midlands	555	92%	49	8%
West Yorkshire	274	86%	45	14%
Wiltshire	33	94%	2	6%
Casework Directorate	0	0%	0	0%
Total	4238	90%	490	10%

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Police racist incident report/computer record supplied with file

1. In order to assist with the early identification of racist incidents, in addition to marking the file appropriately when it is submitted to the CPS, the police nationally have agreed to supply the CPS with a copy of their racist incident report form or computer record at the same time. Information contained on the report form may have evidential significance or could prompt the CPS lawyer to raise further questions with the police with a view to improving the quality of the evidence. Of the 4728 defendant cases referred to the CPS, the police supplied a copy of their racist incident report form or computer record in 681 cases (14%) the same percentage as the previous year. The percentage varies considerably from Area to Area. Table 3 shows police performance by CPS Area. Each CPS Area equates to a police force area save London, which includes the Metropolitan and City forces and the Casework Directorate, which may take work from any force.

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Table 3 - Police racist incident report/computer record supplied with file

Area	Did the police supply a copy of their Racist Incident Report or computer record with the file?
	Yes		No
Avon & Somerset	11	22%	38	78%
Bedfordshire	1	3%	35	97%
Cambridgeshire	0	0%	53	100%
Cheshire	10	13%	65	87%
Cleveland	0	0%	0	0%
Cumbria	8	30%	19	70%
Derbyshire	9	23%	31	78%
Devon & Cornwall	5	4%	120	96%
Dorset	4	15%	23	85%
Durham	5	12%	38	88%
Dyfed Powys	13	30%	30	70%
Essex	9	24%	29	76%
Gloucestershire	1	4%	25	96%
Gt Manchester	16	5%	278	95%
Gwent	6	12%	46	88%
Hampshire	41	22%	147	78%
Hertfordshire	15	23%	51	77%
Humberside	18	18%	80	82%
Kent	3	4%	72	96%
Lancashire	15	10%	140	90%
Leicestershire	9	6%	146	94%
Lincolnshire	3	19%	13	81%
Merseyside	8	9%	78	91%
Metropolitan & City	187	30%	431	70%
Norfolk	35	34%	67	66%
Northants	1	2%	41	98%
Northumbria	9	4%	234	96%
North Wales	0	0%	23	100%
North Yorkshire	0	0%	30	100%
Nottinghamshire	20	13%	130	87%
South Wales	80	58%	57	42%
South Yorkshire	9	12%	68	88%
Staffordshire	0	0%	169	100%
Suffolk	8	19%	34	81%
Surrey	5	15%	29	85%
Sussex	10	8%	121	92%
Thames Valley	19	28%	48	72%
Warwickshire	3	8%	35	92%
West Mercia	0	0%	100	100%
West Midlands	30	5%	574	95%
West Yorkshire	50	16%	269	84%
Wiltshire	5	14%	30	86%
Casework Directorate	0	0%	0	0%
Total	681	14%	4047	86%

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Admissible evidence of racial aggravation

1. The Macpherson definition of a racist incident is deliberately wide in order to encourage the reporting of racist incidents to the police. Inevitably, in some cases, despite the case having been reported as a racist incident, there will not be sufficient evidence to justify prosecution for a racially aggravated offence under the definition in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
2. The monitoring scheme requires the CPS lawyer considering the evidence in the case to indicate whether in his or her judgement there was sufficient evidence to establish racial aggravation as defined by the 1998 Act. Table 4 below indicates that the reviewing lawyer took the view that there was such evidence in 4122 defendant cases (87%) received from the police and further breaks this down for each Area.

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Table 4 - Admissible evidence of racial aggravation

Area	Did the CPS lawyer consider that there was sufficient evidence to establish racial aggravation as defined by Section 28 Crime & Disorder Act 1998?
	Yes		No
Avon & Somerset	42	86%	7	14%
Bedfordshire	28	78%	8	22%
Cambridgeshire	43	81%	10	19%
Cheshire	60	80%	15	20%
Cleveland	0	0%	0	0%
Cumbria	25	93%	2	7%
Derbyshire	34	85%	6	15%
Devon & Cornwall	111	89%	14	11%
Dorset	26	96%	1	4%
Durham	39	91%	4	9%
Dyfed Powys	37	86%	6	14%
Essex	34	89%	4	11%
Gloucestershire	24	92%	2	8%
Gt Manchester	265	90%	29	10%
Gwent	46	88%	6	12%
Hampshire	172	91%	16	9%
Hertfordshire	60	91%	6	9%
Humberside	82	84%	16	16%
Kent	70	93%	5	7%
Lancashire	132	85%	23	15%
Leicestershire	139	90%	16	10%
Lincolnshire	14	88%	2	13%
Merseyside	77	90%	9	10%
Metropolitan & City	558	90%	60	10%
Norfolk	89	87%	13	13%
Northants	33	79%	9	21%
Northumbria	217	89%	26	11%
North Wales	23	100%	0	0%
North Yorkshire	26	87%	4	13%
Nottinghamshire	136	91%	14	9%
South Wales	124	91%	13	9%
South Yorkshire	70	91%	7	9%
Staffordshire	128	76%	41	24%
Suffolk	37	88%	5	12%
Surrey	29	85%	5	15%
Sussex	112	85%	19	15%
Thames Valley	48	72%	19	28%
Warwickshire	28	74%	10	26%
West Mercia	90	90%	10	10%
West Midlands	515	85%	89	15%
West Yorkshire	270	85%	49	15%
Wiltshire	29	83%	6	17%
Casework Directorate	0	0%	0	0%
Total	4122	87%	606	13%

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Offences charged by the police

1. During the reporting year there were 7180 offences charged by the police, broken down as follows:
• 1428 racially aggravated assaults
• 467 racially aggravated criminal damage
• 2839 racially aggravated public order
• 489 racially aggravated harassment
• 496 other assaults
• 260 other criminal damage
• 662 other public order
• 65 other harassment
• 135 Theft Act
• 1 homicide
• 338 other offences
2. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 makes it possible for certain specified offences to be charged under the Act as racially aggravated crimes. The racially aggravated assault, criminal damage, public order and harassment charges listed above are offences specifically charged under the Act. The remaining offences listed were charged under other legislation.

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Table 5 - Types of offence charged by the police

RA = Racially Aggravated

Area	Number of police charges	Homicide	RA assault	Other assault	RA damage	Other damage	RA public order	Other public order	RA harass-ment	Other harass-ment	Theft Act	Other
Avon & Somerset	66	0	21	4	4	3	17	5	9	0	1	2
Bedfordshire	55	0	13	12	3	1	11	3	1	0	9	2
Cambridgeshire	103	0	24	11	8	2	26	10	2	1	10	9
Cheshire	92	0	18	1	14	0	53	0	3	0	0	3
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cumbria	35	0	7	0	2	0	22	3	0	0	0	1
Derbyshire	57	0	10	5	5	5	17	4	2	1	1	7
Devon & Cornwall	178	0	31	11	10	4	81	19	13	0	1	8
Dorset	56	0	13	11	3	4	17	3	1	0	2	2
Durham	51	0	4	0	5	1	38	2	1	0	0	0
Dyfed Powys	64	0	6	4	4	1	30	8	4	3	0	4
Essex	50	0	18	2	3	2	16	2	4	0	0	3
Gloucestershire	40	0	6	3	0	2	18	5	4	0	2	0
Gt Manchester	450	0	55	35	57	21	146	61	34	12	6	23
Gwent	80	0	10	8	3	5	41	9	2	1	0	1
Hampshire	321	0	52	45	15	8	83	20	63	1	11	23
Hertfordshire	97	0	25	16	4	3	31	8	6	0	0	4
Humberside	123	0	28	1	8	2	67	6	10	1	0	0
Kent	118	0	20	9	9	4	47	3	6	0	5	15
Lancashire	226	0	40	12	25	7	82	19	23	3	4	11
Leicestershire	225	0	52	17	16	7	97	22	5	0	2	7
Lincolnshire	19	0	2	0	4	3	10	0	0	0	0	0
Merseyside	102	0	18	7	9	4	39	3	10	3	1	8
Metropolitan & City	921	0	218	53	46	27	395	47	62	9	20	44
Norfolk	134	0	29	6	7	2	69	6	5	1	2	7%
Northants	53	0	6	1	3	2	27	7	4	0	3	0
Northumbria	299	1	51	16	20	6	132	31	22	0	4	16
North Wales	33	0	5	2	2	6	14	4	0	0	0	0
North Yorkshire	44	0	6	3	2	2	24	3	0	0	0	4
Nottinghamshire	221	0	43	10	25	5	100	21	8	1	2	6
South Wales	221	0	28	14	8	12	99	15	17	1	8	19
South Yorkshire	103	0	22	2	17	3	40	6	8	0	1	4
Staffordshire	227	0	47	20	11	7	84	27	15	0	2	14
Suffolk	57	0	10	2	1	0	35	4	3	0	0	2
Surrey	46	0	14	1	1	3	21	0	4	1	0	1
Sussex	213	0	50	25	7	12	56	29	11	5	8	10
Thames Valley	96	0	20	3	2	2	41	21	4	0	0	3
Warwickshire	54	0	3	7	2	2	22	12	1	1	0	4
West Mercia	143	0	34	7	5	5	60	10	10	2	4	6
West Midlands	778	0	214	29	48	25	315	40	64	7	9	27
West Yorkshire	453	0	84	26	27	27	158	66	27	6	12	17
Wiltshire	66	0	18	6	1	1	27	11	1	0	0	1
Casework Directorate	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	6770	1	1375	447	446	241	2708	575	469	60	130	318
%	100%	0%	20%	6%	7%	4%	40%	8%	7%	1%	2%	5%

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CPS action on police charges

1. Of the 6770 police charges, 77% (or 5221 charges) were unaltered by the CPS, compared with 75% recorded in 2002 - 2003 and 76% recorded in 2001 - 2002. Table 6 gives information concerning these charges together with a breakdown of the CPS action in respect of the remaining 23%.

Table 6 - CPS action on police charges

RA = Racially Aggravated

Area	Number of police charges	Unaltered	Increase RA to Non RA e.g. s.20 to s.18	Increase Non RA to RA	Reduce RA to Non RA	Reduce Non RA to RA e.g. s.18 to s.20	Increase for any other reasons	Reduce for any other reasons
Avon & Somerset	66	49	0	4	10	1	1	1
Bedfordshire	55	43	1	3	4	0	0	4
Cambridgeshire	103	76	0	4	16	0	0	7
Cheshire	92	81	0	1	2	0	0	8
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cumbria	35	25	0	1	4	0	0	5
Derbyshire	57	43	0	8	3	0	0	3
Devon & Cornwall	178	138	1	4	11	2	3	19
Dorset	56	47	0	1	2	0	0	6
Durham	51	42	0	0	4	2	0	3
Dyfed Powys	64	42	1	8	4	0	0	4
Essex	50	40	0	0	6	0	2	2
Gloucestershire	40	30	3	4	2	0	0	1
Gt Manchester	450	341	0	25	21	5	8	50
Gwent	80	52	0	8	10	0	3	7
Hampshire	321	256	6	18	22	3	6	10
Hertfordshire	97	72	0	2	2	13	0	8
Humberside	123	103	0	4	12	0	1	3
Kent	118	98	0	4	6	0	0	10
Lancashire	226	180	0	8	16	1	3	18
Leicestershire	225	184	0	4	14	4	3	16
Lincolnshire	19	14	0	2	2	0	0	1
Merseyside	102	80	1	8	4	0	3	6
Metropolitan & City	921	698	1	35	84	5	17	81
Norfolk	134	95	0	9	16	0	0	14
Northants	53	46	0	3	2	0	1	1
Northumbria	299	242	1	10	17	3	7	19
North Wales	33	31	0	1	0	0	0	1
North Yorkshire	44	38	0	2	4	0	0	0
Nottinghamshire	221	174	0	12	19	0	1	15
South Wales	221	176	1	8	7	2	7	20
South Yorkshire	103	84	0	8	6	2	0	3
Staffordshire	227	189	0	11	13	0	0	14
Suffolk	57	48	0	0	4	1	1	3
Surrey	46	37	0	1	3	0	1	4
Sussex	213	171	0	18	15	0	1	8
Thames Valley	96	63	0	6	15	0	2	10
Warwickshire	54	42	0	2	3	0	3	4
West Mercia	143	115	0	3	13	1	2	9
West Midlands	778	536	3	26	104	9	7	93
West Yorkshire	453	357	0	24	19	1	9	43
Wiltshire	66	43	0	3	7	2	0	11
Casework Directorate	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	6770	5221	19	303	528	57	97	545
%	100%	77%	0%	5%	8%	1%	1%	8%

2. It should be noted that not all dropped charges necessarily result in the termination of a prosecution. Some charges against a defendant may proceed whilst others may be dropped.
3. The Crown Prosecutor will select the most appropriate charge having regard to the available admissible evidence. The Code for Crown Prosecutors, at paragraph 7.1, confirms that "Crown Prosecutors should select charges which (a) reflect the seriousness of the offending; (b) give the court adequate sentencing powers; and (c) enable the case to be presented in a clear and simple way".
4. While the CPS agreed with the police charge in 77% of charges, it was necessary to increase, reduce and add to the police charges to reflect the evidence.
5. The number of police determined charges will be greatly reduced with the introduction of Statutory Charging,

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Charges added by the CPS

1. There were 6770 police charges recorded for the reporting period. A further 410 charges were added by the CPS on evidential grounds, making a total of 7180 charges. A breakdown of the added charges by offence type is given in Table 7.

Table 7 - Charges added by offence type

RA = Racially Aggravated

Area	Number of police charges	No. of charges added by CPS	Homicide	RA assault	Other assault	RA damage	Other damage	RA public order	Other public order	RA harass-ment	Other harass-ment	Theft Act	Other
Avon & Somerset	66	7	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	2	1	1	0
Bedfordshire	55	8	0	2	3	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1
Cambridgeshire	103	3	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Cheshire	92	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cumbria	35	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Derbyshire	57	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Devon & Cornwall	178	19	0	1	3	0	2	8	5	0	0	0	0
Dorset	56	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0
Durham	51	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Dyfed Powys	64	7	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	1
Essex	50	7	0	0	5	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Gloucestershire	40	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gt Manchester	450	80	0	4	5	10	2	20	34	4	0	0	1
Gwent	80	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0
Hampshire	321	7	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	2	1
Hertfordshire	97	10	0	0	5	0	0	2	1	2	0	0	0
Humberside	123	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Kent	118	10	0	4	1	1	0	3	1	0	0	0	0
Lancashire	226	11	0	2	1	0	0	4	2	0	0	1	1
Leicestershire	225	13	0	1	0	0	0	9	0	0	2	0	1
Lincolnshire	19	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Merseyside	102	7	0	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	8
Metropolitan & City	921	38	0	2	4	0	3	22	5	0	0	0	2
Norfolk	134	8	0	0	1	0	1	2	3	0	1	0	0
Northants	53	6	0	1	1	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0
Northumbria	299	16	0	2	2	0	2	5	3	0	0	0	2
North Wales	33	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
North Yorkshire	44	3	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nottinghamshire	221	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
South Wales	221	6	0	1	1	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	1
South Yorkshire	103	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Staffordshire	227	31	0	7	2	0	2	7	8	2	0	1	2
Suffolk	57	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	0	0	2
Surrey	46		0	14	1	1	3	21	0	4	1	0	1
Sussex	213		0	50	25	7	12	56	29	11	5	8	10
Thames Valley	96		0	20	3	2	2	41	21	4	0	0	3
Warwickshire	54		0	3	7	2	2	22	12	1	1	0	4
West Mercia	143		0	34	7	5	5	60	10	10	2	4	6
West Midlands	778		0	214	29	48	25	315	40	64	7	9	27
West Yorkshire	453		0	84	26	27	27	158	66	27	6	12	17
Wiltshire	66		0	18	6	1	1	27	11	1	0	0	1
Casework Directorate	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	6770		1	1375	447	446	241	2708	575	469	60	130	318
%	100%		0%	20%	6%	7%	4%	40%	8%	7%	1%	2%	5%

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Details of charges prosecuted

1. A total of 3616 defendants were prosecuted in the Magistrates' Court, Crown Court and Youth Court on 4719 charges (charges either put by the police or added by the CPS). Of the 4719 charges, 2888 charges (61%) were prosecuted in the Magistrates' Court, 1219 charges (26%) in the Crown Court and 612 charges (13%) in the Youth Court. Tables 8 - 10 set out the types of offences dealt with in each of the court centres.

Table 8 - Offences prosecuted in the magistrates' court

RA = Racially Aggravated

Area	Charges prosecuted	Homicide	RA assault	Other assault	RA damage	Other damage	RA public order	Other public order	RA harass-ment	Other harass-ment	Theft Act	Other
Avon & Somerset	39	0	5	4	3	1	15	2	6	0	2	1
Bedfordshire	7	0	1	2	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	0
Cambridgeshire	35	0	3	8	2	2	11	3	2	0	0	4
Cheshire	57	0	9	0	10	0	35	1	1	0	0	1
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cumbria	20	0	1	0	1	0	13	2	0	1	0	2
Derbyshire	29	0	4	2	1	3	11	2	1	0	1	4
Devon & Cornwall	85	0	5	7	3	4	52	8	2	1	0	3
Dorset	8	0	0	2	0	0	5	0	0	0	1	0
Durham	25	0	2	1	2	0	16	3	1	0	0	0
Dyfed Powys	39	0	1	1	4	0	24	5	1	0	0	3
Essex	13	0	6	1	2	0	2	1	1	0	0	0
Gloucestershire	14	0	0	1	0	1	9	0	3	0	0	0
Gt Manchester	180	0	15	9	10	9	89	25	9	0	2	11
Gwent	36	0	1	1	1	5	20	8	0	0	0	0
Hampshire	118	0	13	10	1	4	32	7	32	0	4	15
Hertfordshire	45	0	9	5	2	2	18	3	4	0	0	2
Humberside	73	0	8	0	5	1	45	7	7	0	0	0
Kent	45	0	6	4	1	0	26	3	1	0	1	3
Lancashire	96	0	7	4	8	4	43	5	13	1	3	8
Leicestershire	84	0	12	6	4	3	45	11	2	0	1	0
Lincolnshire	9	0	0	0	1	1	6	1	0	0	0	0
Merseyside	46	0	5	6	4	3	24	0	3	0	0	1
Metropolitan & City	416	0	39	29	4	16	244	32	18	8	7	19
Norfolk	47	0	6	1	3	0	28	6	0	0	1	2
Northants	24	0	1	1	0	2	18	0	2	0	0	0
Northumbria	121	0	11	9	10	6	61	16	5	0	0	3
North Wales	19	0	2	2	2	5	8	0	0	0	0	0
North Yorkshire	34	0	4	2	3	0	16	5	0	0	0	4
Nottinghamshire	72	0	6	4	3	3	49	5	1	0	0	1
South Wales	85	0	5	5	2	0	48	9	10	0	0	6
South Yorkshire	38	0	4	0	6	1	22	2	2	0	0	1
Staffordshire	93	0	17	6	2	5	43	9	3	0	2	6
Suffolk	31	0	4	1	0	0	16	5	3	0	0	2
Surrey	13	0	3	0	0	1	9	0	0	0	0	0
Sussex	63	0	7	7	1	5	22	11	2	1	3	4
Thames Valley	42	0	6	7	0	1	18	10	0	0	0	0
Warwickshire	25	0	1	1	1	0	13	5	2	1	0	1
West Mercia	92	0	11	11	4	1	50	3	4	0	1	7
West Midlands	342	0	46	33	12	19	155	38	16	9	4	10
West Yorkshire	197	0	26	14	12	11	98	19	9	2	3	3
Wiltshire	31	0	4	5	0	1	14	5	1	0	0	1
Casework Directorate	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2888	0	316	212	130	120	1476	278	167	24	37	128
%	100%	0%	11%	7%	5%	4%	51%	10%	6%	1%	1%	4%

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Table 9 - Offences prosecuted in the crown court

RA = Racially Aggravated

Area	Charges prosecuted	Homicide	RA assault	Other assault	RA damage	Other damage	RA public order	Other public order	RA harass-ment	Other harass-ment	Theft Act	Other
Avon & Somerset	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bedfordshire	29	0	8	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	7	2
Cambridgeshire	33	0	6	9	3	0	2	6	2	0	4	1
Cheshire	14	0	5	0	2	0	3	2	2	0	0	2
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cumbria	6	0	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Derbyshire	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Devon & Cornwall	40	0	0	4	5	0	8	4	7	0	1	2
Dorset	32	0	11	9	1	2	6	1	1	0	0	1
Durham	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dyfed Powys	7	0	2	0	0	0	3	2	0	0	0	0
Essex	15	0	7	1	1	1	2	1	1	0	0	1
Gloucestershire	15	0	3	1	0	1	3	5	0	0	2	0
Gt Manchester	90	0	12	10	10	0	17	24	11	0	2	4
Gwent	7	0	5	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
Hampshire	83	0	19	17	2	4	15	3	13	1	5	4
Hertfordshire	25	0	4	7	0	1	10	1	1	1	0	0
Humberside	26	0	15	2	2	0	6	1	0	0	0	0
Kent	26	0	7	2	1	2	5	0	1	0	1	7
Lancashire	46	0	9	5	4	1	10	10	3	1	1	2
Leicestershire	25	0	5	1	0	2	11	4	0	0	1	1
Lincolnshire	79	0	2	0	2	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
Merseyside	10	0	2	1	0	1	2	0	3	0	1	0
Metropolitan & City	225	0	71	35	13	8	53	13	14	0	10	8
Norfolk	30	0	10	3	3	1	7	1	2	1	1	1
Northants	9	0	0	1	1	0	1	4	1	0	1	0
Northumbria	26	1	5	7	0	3	1	4	5	0	0	0
North Wales	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Yorkshire	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Nottinghamshire	74	0	16	6	10	3	26	6	1	0	1	5
South Wales	52	0	7	7	3	3	15	7	3	0	6	1
South Yorkshire	27	0	7	4	0	1	8	1	5	0	0	1
Staffordshire	24	0	6	1	0	0	4	7	5	0	0	1
Suffolk	4	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Surrey	12	0	4	2	0	1	5	0	0	0	0	0
Sussex	47	0	10	7	2	2	6	6	7	1	1	5
Thames Valley	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Warwickshire	7	0	0	2	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	1
West Mercia	12	0	3	1	0	1	1	1	2	1	2	0
West Midlands	56	0	8	15	0	0	9	13	5	0	2	4
West Yorkshire	66	0	11	3	3	0	13	27	4	0	0	5
Wiltshire	8	0	3	0	1	0	0	4	0	0	0	0
Casework Directorate	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1219	1	296	182	70	38	261	158	99	6	49	59
%	100%	0%	24%	15%	6%	3%	22%	13%	8%	0%	4%	5%

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Table 10 - Offences prosecuted in the youth court

RA = Racially Aggravated

Area	Charges prosecuted	Homicide	RA assault	Other assault	RA damage	Other damage	RA public order	Other public order	RA harass-ment	Other harass-ment	Theft Act	Other
Avon & Somerset	12	0	4	0	1	2	4	0	0	0	0	1
Bedfordshire	5	0	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Cambridgeshire	3	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Cheshire	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cumbria	4	0	0	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	0	0
Derbyshire	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Devon & Cornwall	12	0	5	3	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	0
Dorset	6	0	1	1	0	0	2	1	1	0	0	0
Durham	11	0	0	0	0	0	9	2	0	0	0	0
Dyfed Powys	3	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Essex	7	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	2	0	0	1
Gloucestershire	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Gt Manchester	33	0	8	1	6	3	13	1	1	0	0	0
Gwent	14	0	3	4	0	0	2	2	2	1	0	0
Hampshire	29	0	8	2	2	1	6	1	2	2	1	4
Hertfordshire	3	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Humberside	7	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	2	0	0	1
Kent	13	0	0	0	4	0	6	0	0	0	1	2
Lancashire	10	0	2	0	0	0	5	0	1	0	0	2
Leicestershire	41	0	7	4	3	3	16	3	3	2	0	0
Lincolnshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Merseyside	16	0	0	1	0	0	9	0	3	1	0	1
Metropolitan & City	14	0	5	1	2	0	3	3	0	0	0	0
Norfolk	14	0	3	1	0	0	8	0	2	0	0	0
Northants	10	0	2	0	0	0	7	0	1	0	0	0
Northumbria	39	0	5	1	1	1	16	5	5	0	1	4
North Wales	9	0	3	0	0	1	4	1	0	0	0	0
North Yorkshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nottinghamshire	29	0	5	1	2	0	11	3	5	1	1	0
South Wales	18	0	0	2	1	4	7	1	0	0	1	2
South Yorkshire	11	0	0	2	0	0	6	1	1	0	1	0
Staffordshire	21	0	7	5	2	0	3	1	2	0	1	0
Suffolk	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0
Surrey	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Sussex	41	0	13	10	2	3	6	1	2	1	2	1
Thames Valley	11	0	1	2	0	0	4	2	0	0	0	2
Warwickshire	6	0	0	1	0	1	1	3	0	0	0	0
West Mercia	6	0	0	1	0	1	1	3	0	0	0	0
West Midlands	95	0	31	10	4	2	30	5	12	0	1	0
West Yorkshire	50	0	9	4	2	3	16	6	4	1	5	0
Wiltshire	4	0	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Casework Directorate	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	612	0	127	64	36	25	218	46	51	9	15	21
%	100%	0%	21%	11%	6%	4%	36%	8%	8%	1%	2%	3%

2. Specific racially aggravated offences as defined by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 accounted for 73% of the total number of charges prosecuted in the Magistrates' Court, 60% in the Crown Court and 71% in the Youth Court. Overall, 69% of the charges prosecuted were specific racially aggravated offences. This is a 6% increase on the previous year.
3. The remaining 31% related to charges not capable of being charged as specific racially aggravated offences and which were, therefore, prosecuted under other legislation. A percentage of these charges, however, contained admissible evidence of racial aggravation which was put before th