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CPS case outcomes by principal offence

Outcomes are broken down into two categories: convictions and unsuccessful outcomes. Reports show the number and the proportion of defendants falling into each category.

This report contains a quarterly analysis of the outcome of CPS proceedings in magistrates' courts and in the Crown Court. Outcomes are broken down into two categories: convictions and unsuccessful outcomes. The report shows the number and the proportion of defendants falling into each category.

Convictions comprise guilty pleas, convictions after trial and cases proved in the absence of the defendant. Unsuccessful outcomes represent all outcomes other than a conviction, comprising discontinuances and withdrawals, discharged committals, dismissals and acquittals, and administrative finalisations.

Administrative finalisations are recorded where a case cannot proceed because a warrant for the arrest of the defendant remains unexecuted, or where the defendant cannot be traced by the police for a summons to be served, or the defendant has died or been found unfit to plead.

Outcomes are shown separately according to the principal offence category. The Principal Offence Category indicates the most serious offence with which the defendant is charged at the time of finalisation. Where the nature of the charges alters during the life of a case, the Principal Offence at the time of finalisation may be different than would have seemed appropriate at an earlier stage of proceedings. In all such cases the Principal Offence category to be recorded is that which applies at finalisation,, regardless of whether this is more serious, or less serious, than would have applied earlier in the life of the case.

Offences are divided into: homicide, offences against the person, sexual offences, burglary, robbery, theft and handling, fraud and forgery, criminal damage, drugs offences, public order, motoring, and all other offences excluding motoring.

CPS records do not identify the principal offence for cases resulting in an administrative finalisation, which are shown in the present report as a separate category.

CPS outcomes are recorded on a defendant basis. In some cases, a number of defendants may be prosecuted together. All defendants may be convicted; all may be acquitted; or some may be convicted and others acquitted. Because cases often involve a number of defendants who are tried together, defendant based data can be distorted as a result. Over time this effect will be evened out, but it should be borne in mind that figures for a single month may represent the outcome of only a small number of separate cases.

The CPS collects data to assist in the effective management of its prosecution functions. 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. We are committed to improving the quality of our data and from mid June 2015 introduced a new data assurance regime which may explain some unexpected variance in some sets of data.

The official statistics relating to crime and policing are maintained by the Home Office and the official statistics relating to sentencing, criminal court proceedings, offenders brought to justice, the courts and the judiciary are maintained by the Ministry of Justice.

This information will be published on a quarterly basis.

QuarterPre-Announcement DatePublication Date
Q4 18/1922/07/201912/08/2019
Q1 19/2023/10/201906/11/2019
Q2 19/2022/01/202005/02/2020
Q3 19/2023/04/202008/05/2020
Q4 19/2023/07/202013/08/2020
Q1 20/2122/10/202012/11/2020
Q2 20/2121/01/202104/02/2021
Q3 20/2122/04/202107/05/2021
Q4 20/2122/07/202112/08/2021

NB - We republished and rearranged these data in June 2019 to appear quarterly and by financial year. Previously, they were published quarterly and listed by month and calendar year. Earlier data on CPS case outcomes by principal offence can be found in archived versions of the CPS website, available from the UK Government Web Archive, or from data.gov.uk.

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