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Victims' Right to Review Data 2021-2022

Underlying Data

Victims Right to Review Outcomes
April 2021 to March 2022

This publication details the outcomes of Victims' Right to Review decisions in 2021-2022. Also available in Excel and PDF format.

 Principal Offence CategoryTotal VRR Requests ReceivedOriginal Decisions Overturned at Stage OneOriginal Decisions Overturned at Stage TwoTotal Original Decisions Overturned
AHomicide20314
BOffences against the person7448628114
CSexual offences303381755
DBurglary33022
ERobbery12101
FTheft and handling66202
GFraud and forgery55336
HCriminal damage76527
IDrug offences1000
JPublic order offences78516
LMotoring offences32336
KAll other offences (excluding motoring)13521526
 No Principal Offence Category14312214
 Total1,69817964243

Notes

During the period in question, the CPS made 73,3373 decisions which could be subject to a request for a review under the VRR scheme. The percentage of requests overturned, where the original decision was found to be wrong, is therefore 0.33%. 
Source: CPS VRR Tracker. October 2022

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 2021-2022 (PDF file, approx 87kb)
Victims' Right to Review data 2021-2022 (Excel file, approx 22kb)
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