CPS Staffordshire and You

Introducing the Crown Prosecution Service in Staffordshire

Staffordshire Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is one of 42 CPS Areas across England and Wales. Our role is to prosecute people in Staffordshire who have been charged with a criminal offence.

In most cases the CPS now decides whether a person will be charged with a criminal offence, and what this charge should be. Crown Prosecutors look at all the information about a case which has been given to them by the police. They then decide whether there is enough evidence against the defendant to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and whether it is in the public interest to bring that person to court.

We are responsible for:

• advising the police on cases for possible prosecution
• reviewing cases submitted by the police and deciding on the charge
• preparing cases for court
• prosecuting cases at both the Crown Court and magistrates' courts

In 2009/10 we prosecuted over 19,000 defendants in both the magistrates' courts and Crown Court with our overall conviction rate of 97%.