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Victims' Right to Review Data 2019-2020

Underlying Data

This publication details the outcomes of Victims' Right to Review decisions in 2019-2020. Also available in Excel and PDF format.

Victims Right to Review Outcomes
April 2019 to March 2020

 Principal Offence CategoryTotal VRR Requests ReceivedOriginal Decisions Overturned at Stage OneOriginal Decisions Overturned at Stage TwoTotal Original Decisions Overturned
AHomicide43358
BOffences against the person7758624110
CSexual offences434313162
DBurglary54819
ERobbery12213
FTheft and handling8215419
GFraud and forgery7312113
HCriminal damage759312
IDrug offences3000
JPublic order offences71527
LMotoring offences619211
KAll other offences (excluding motoring)8510010
 No Principal Offence Category22820424
 Total1,99621078288

Notes

During the period in question, the CPS made 91,912 decisions which could be subject to a request for a review under the VRR scheme. The percentage of all eligible decisions overturned, where the original decision was found to be wrong, is therefore 0.31%.
Source: CPS VRR Tracker. February 2021

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.

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.

 

Available to download

Victims' Right to Review data 2019-2020, PDF document, approx 88kb
Victims' Right to Review data 2019-2020, Excel spreadsheet, approx 11kb
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