Victims' Right to Review Data 2022-2023
Victims Right to Review Outcomes
April 2022 to March 2023
This publication details the outcomes of Victims' Right to Review decisions in 2022-2023. Also available in Excel and PDF format.
| Principal Offence Category | Total VRR Requests Received | Original Decisions Overturned at Stage One | Original Decisions Overturned at Stage Two | Total Original Decisions Overturned | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Homicide | 27 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| B | Offences against the person | 864 | 103 | 38 | 141 |
| C | Sexual offences | 312 | 46 | 18 | 6 |
| D | Burglary | 37 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| E | Robbery | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| F | Theft and handling | 44 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| G | Fraud and forgery | 37 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| H | Criminal damage | 7 | 11 | 3 | 14 |
| I | Drug offences | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J | Public order offences | 92 | 12 | 4 | 16 |
| L | Motoring offences | 36 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| K | All other offences (excluding motoring) | 119 | 15 | 5 | 20 |
| Total | 1655 | 204 | 80 | 284 |
Notes
In 2022/23, 1,655 requests were made under the VRR scheme. Out of these requests, 284 decisions (1.03% of qualifying decisions) were found to be incorrect; this comprised of 204 at stage 1 and 80 at stage 2. During this period, the CPS made 29,543 decisions which could have been subject to a request for a review under the VRR scheme. More information on the VRR scheme can be found here. Source: CPS VRR Tracker. September 2023
The VRR scheme is a two stage process where requests can be reviewed by either local offices or a specialist Unit within HQ. In the first instance, that decision is reviewed by a manager in the local area. If he or she overturns the original decision, and if the victim so requests, the case may be further reviewed by the CPS Appeals and Review Unit (ARU). The ARU is a national CPS unit staffed with experienced specialist lawyers who conduct a fresh independent review of the evidence in every case referred to them. If an ARU lawyer decides that the original decision was wrong, and a prosecution is required to maintain confidence in the Criminal Justice System, that original decision will be overturned and proceedings reinstituted. The figures provided in the table represent all overturned decisions where the original decision was found to be wrong regardless of which stage the final decision was made.
For the 2022/23 publication the CPS has used a new, more accurate calculation to represent the number of decisions that could have been subject to a request under the VRR scheme, this change involved adding the identified victim flag to the calculation to improve accuracy. This has reduced the number of decisions that could be subject to a review and therefore the overturn rate has increased. This calculation now uses the Identified Victim flag to identify cases that could be subject to a request under the VRR scheme.
Publications prior to 2022/23 included cases that did not have a princpal offence category attributed to them. From 2022/23 all cases have a principal offence category allocated to them.
The CPS operates both Feedback and Complaints schemes to deal with concerns about legal decisions which do not fall within the scope of the VRR scheme. The CPS does not collect data which constitutes official statistics as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. This data has been drawn from the CPS’s administrative IT systems, which (as with any large scale recording system) is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the CPS.
Monitoring flags
The CPS maintains a central record of pre-charge and prosecution outcomes with reference to a number of case monitoring flags, including cases involving offences of child abuse, crimes against older people, domestic abuse, hate crime, identified victim, modern slavery and rape.
CPS data are dependent upon lawyers and administrative staff identifying and correctly applying the monitoring ‘flags’ or case-markers to applicable cases that are recorded on the CPS’ electronic Case Management System (CMS).
The data that is produced through the application of the flag is primarily used for monitoring performance on all cases that involve allegations or charges where these categories of criminal offending apply. CPS data is accurate only to the extent that the flags have been correctly applied. Also note that:
- A flag is usually applied at the onset of any case referred by the police to the CPS and remains in place even if the charge is not proceeded with, is amended, or dropped.
- A flag may be applied at a later point which differs from that originally identified by the police.
- Although charges specifically related to a flag may be considered at the time of the pre-charge decision, the defendant may in fact be charged with another offence. Similarly, there may be cases where a person is convicted of a lesser offence than that with which they were proceeded against.